Jackson Junior 05: Alternates
by drgemini86
Summary: Spinoff of chapter 59 of Nuptial Preludes, after seeing Sam and Daniel married in an AU, this Sam and Daniel have a lot of thinking to do. SamJack, not for SamJack fans, SamDaniel, CamVala, ValaminiJack. FINISHED!
1. The New Guys

**Jackson Junior: Alternates by DrGemini86**

_**Summary: **__Spin-off of chapter 59 of Nuptial Preludes, following the alternate SG-1 that SG-1 encountered on Ortus Mallum. After seeing that Sam and Daniel married, this Sam and Daniel have a lot to think about. SamJack – not for SamJack fans, SamDaniel, CamVala, ValaminiJack, a little CaLam  
__**Rating:**__ Mature  
__**Category: **__New Romance  
__**Genres:**__ Angst, Friendship, Drama, Romance-Focussed, AU  
__**Warnings: **__rude scenes and brief mentions of torture  
__**Spoilers: **__seasons 1-10 including Unending, Ark of Truth, and a brief one for Atlantis season four  
__**A/N: **__This is a spin-off of chapter 59 of Jackson Junior: Nuptial Preludes... it might help to read that chapter at least so that you get a fair idea of what's going on here._

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The Odyssey made its way back to the Milky Way from Ortus Mallum in the Ori galaxy after a failed mission to bring an end to the Ori. The mission would have been a success had it been this Universe's SG-1 who had reached the Ark of Truth first, but another Universe had beaten them to it, another Universe with some rather unsettling differences.

Sam and Daniel, especially, felt too awkward to be in each other's company after encountering alternate versions of themselves that were married... to each other, and were parents! As a result, each of them had practically barricaded themselves in their own quarters, not feeling up to even the risk of crossing paths with the other. Teal'c, grumpy that he had been right in another Universe, and not this one, was given a wide berth by anyone who had any sense, all present either fully aware of the capabilities of an angry Jaffa, or were just wise to stay clear of him.

The only relatively albeit remotely sane and normal members of SG-1 were Cam and Vala, who were rather puzzled at their friends' sudden change in behaviour but knew them well enough to know that it wasn't down to a covert alien influence, although both of them would have preferred something as potentially fixable by the base's CMO as opposed to the alternative, which would be the possibility of Cam's band splitting up what with Sam and Daniel apparently being unable to work with each other any longer.

Cam, needing someone to talk to that wasn't an emotionally nostalgic Astrophysicist, or a reclusive Archaeologist, or even an angry Jaffa, dragged Vala back to his quarters, the dark-haired woman remarking with a bemused expression as she sat next to him on the end of his bed,

"You know, Cameron, if you wanted sex, all you had to do was ask..."

He shot her a patented Mitchell glare before asking, "Moving swiftly on, what do you think is going to happen when we get back to Earth?"

Confused, she was about to say something rude when she thought better of it and said instead, "I wasn't allowed in Artur's cave of treasures remember? I was stuck outside in the reception area with not so much as a pen to steal... Your Earth Kings are stingy to say the least... I mean, why lock me in if there wasn't anything valuable to run away with?!"

He rolled his eyes and said, "I meant about those two out there. You saw everything on that screen..."

Comprehension dawning on her, she remarked, "Oh, I knew that! Um, you four meeting those four... I've got to say something – Samantha would look great if she grew her hair out... Not as beautiful as me obviously..."

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes again, he muttered, "Obviously."

"... but she has great promise. No... I understand why Samantha's unhappy because she's with the wonderful General O'Neill and has just found out that she could have had Daniel, and Daniel's sad because there wasn't a 'me' in that Universe and..."

He grabbed her by the shoulders and said heatedly, "Vala!"

She grinned at him as he released his grip, and then her smile vanished as she continued, "Well, after all that, why is Muscles acting like a bear with a headache?"

"Sore head."

"What?"

"Bear with a sore head."

"Right... you Earth people are funny, and not in a good way..."

Glaring at her briefly, he replied, "Well Jackson's upset because he's always loved Sam but never did anything about it because of the General. Sam's upset because she's always had feelings for Daniel, I suspect, and never did anything about it... _Teal'c's_ doing the pissed Jaffa thing because he tried to get Sam to see the light before but she didn't see what he was getting at."

"Oh... Well, shouldn't he be laughing and saying, 'I told you so.'?"

"That's not how our big guy works and you know it."

"Indeed I do... So what then? We lock them in a room until they're sick of each other, or...?"

"There's nothing we can do, except stay away from Teal'c until he's past the throwing furniture phase. I might need to have a word with Sam and Jackson Earthside if they're unable to work with each other. I can't have them breaking up my band, no way."

"Okay! So, _we_ just... _hang out_ because we're the only ones not depressed or angry?"

He was about to glare at her again when he decided against it and simply shrugged, smiling slightly and saying, "What the heck... you're the safest person to be around, and strangely enough, the only one I can keep my sanity with."

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_Even if you're just reading casually, reviews are most welcome – smallest to the biggest._


	2. The General

Landry watched his best team with barely guarded interest during the necessary debriefing following their return and the equally necessary medical examinations. As a troubled looking Colonel Mitchell narrated the major events of the failed mission, including eventually finding the Anti-Ori Underground, which they had had to find by themselves due to the IOA not permitting Tomin to join them in this Universe, Landry's gaze wandered to the rest of the team.

Vala looked innocently exuberant, which admittedly troubled him to some extent, and he surmised that you could never be too sure with people like her, especially considering her skills earned and honed through goodness-knows-how-many years of being on the run.

Teal'c looked deeply disturbed despite his self-enforced stoic exterior, and the General wondered if the Jaffa was going to hit the weights when the team was dismissed, or worse, seriously harm a member of the SGC. He strongly hoped for the former as he didn't want to have to deal with the NID again.

Colonel Carter's eyes had always betrayed her feelings and he wondered why she looked so deeply haunted and upset, yet holding it together as she tended to do whilst on duty. The answer to that and Doctor Jackson's perfectly schooled emotionless façade, Teal'c's too, came in the following part of Mitchell's narrative,

"… And, Carter and Jackson got married and had a bunch of kids… in another Universe…"

Landry's eyebrow shot up, and he noticed his scientists discreetly glance at each other and trying fruitlessly not to react when they caught each other looking.

Oh dear, he needed a word with Mitchell afterwards. All those years of SG-1 saving the Earth and the galaxy because of their togetherness appeared to be coming to an end because of an accidental meeting with another Universe… Hopefully, they would be able to sort it out between them without outside intervention during their upcoming leave. He knew from experience that it could only end badly if he intervened at too early a stage.

He still needed a discreet word with Mitchell though, and maybe tell Carolyn to give Teal'c something to keep him from storming through the mountain.

Dismissing his team at the end of the briefing, having heard everything that he had needed to, and after instructing them to write their reports, he quietly requested Mitchell to stay behind as the rest of SG-1 filed out, and he called to Carter, who turned around on hearing her name, stopping near the doorway,

"Colonel Carter… Jack called earlier – he should be in Colorado Springs this evening."

"Thank you Sir."

As the Colonel left, he noticed Doctor Jackson's expressionless mask distort momentarily, an inordinate amount of pain and hurt showing for the briefest of moments.

Oh dear.

When the rest of the team had left, he turned to face his second-in-command as he thought to himself, "Well, at least Colonel Carter has good taste in men in one Universe…"

With a sigh and a weary expression, he gestured for Mitchell to follow him, saying, "We're better off in my office."

Mitchell nodded, knowing what was to come, and no doubt hoping that his friends could resolve whatever issues that they may have.

Inside, the door firmly shut, Landry paced behind his desk as Mitchell stood in front of it, waiting. The General finally spoke, stopping his pacing, his palms outstretched as he slowly dropped his arms, saying,

"What are we going to do, Mitchell? We both know that Teal'c, Colonel Carter and Doctor Jackson are the core of SG-1. If they cannot work together, then SG-1 is no longer SG-1, and quite frankly, there is no-one who can fill their huge shoes, as you have long since discovered."

Mitchell nodded and replied, looking troubled, "Yes Sir. I don't want the band splitting up again – those guys have proved themselves in the field, time and time again, even during those reputed tension years between the General and Sam. SG-1 needs their skills…"

Landry, sensing that Mitchell wanted to say more, said, "You've got permission to speak your mind about this – I could use your insight."

Not missing a beat, Mitchell replied, letting out an explosive breath, "Well Sir, to tell the truth, I've always suspected that Jackson has had, what would be considered round this neck of the woods, inappropriate feelings for Sam over the years, and it's not just me. You know how insightful Teal'c is."

"I do."

"… And Sam's always been too damn stubborn to see the light. That's why Teal'c's annoyed. I do honestly believe that she, perhaps at one time if not still, returned Jackson's feelings, but getting either of them to open up is plumb impossible."

"What is your recommendation?"

Mitchell exhaled and replied, "I'd leave it for a couple of weeks Sir. They've obviously got some issues to work out but if they're not sorted by the next time we're on active duty, I flatly refuse to take them through the 'gate again – I won't have any guarantee that their issues won't overflow into the field and screw up a mission. It's bad enough with Teal'c acting like a bear with a sore head."

Landry nodded, inwardly admiring his Colonel's sense of responsibility despite his close ties with his comrades, and said, "Well, let's hope that it doesn't come to that, and that they can settle this. Dismissed, Colonel."


	3. The Archaeologist

Daniel sat in his office, surrounded by the work of the past twelve years of his life, but strangely, they meant nothing to him at that moment. He was bereft. Prior to witnessing a much happier version of himself in Ortus Mallum, he had resigned himself to a solo life after two of his best friends had finally stopped dancing around their feelings. The day that he had heard about the change in their relationship was the day that a large part of him had died.

For years, he had been holding out on the slightest bit of hope that Sam would return his feelings… even when it had been wrong. To be honest, he hadn't been aware of his feelings for her prior to his ascension, but after finding peace with Sha're's passing, he had allowed himself to feel once again.

He loved Sha're, very much. For years, she had been his life and soul, the search for her his priority, his _raison d'être_, but as the years slipped by, he knew that even if he had found her, she would never be the same again. That didn't matter though because love conquered all, didn't it? Their love would have overcome everything.

Who was he kidding? He was never good enough for such a wonderful woman as Sha're, who laughed when he had tried to do 'women's' work, and he sure as hell wasn't good enough for a woman like Sam. He just got lucky the first time.

He groaned as he rested his head on his folded arms, having barely found the energy to write his report and email it to General Landry. The report writing had made everything worse. He kept on seeing the alternate team in his mind's eye, the photos that Sam must have thrown away by now if she had any sense, and how that Daniel looked at the other Sam.

And she was wearing his mother's St Christopher.

He had promised himself during his college years that the necklace would go to the love of his life, but due to an accident of circumstance, the necklace had been with Nick while Daniel had been on Abydos. The St Christopher was re-gifted back to him when Nick had abandoned him once again, this time for the giant aliens, the necklace one of the last reminders of his long dead mother.

That other Universe hadn't been too different from their own, except that the other Teal'c didn't have a much joked about grey streak like the one here did. Obviously, if the Asgard had died the same way as they had in this Universe, SG-1 were either not on the mission, their Odyssey was blown up, or someone else had sacrificed fifty years of their life for their comrades.

As his mind wandered back to the longer haired Sam and the photos of the children that they didn't have, as well as how the other Sam and Daniel acted, he began to feel sick. In so many other realities, it had been Sam and Jack, Jack and Sam… They had never encountered another Universe where he and Sam had been together. Even when she had slipped into that other Universe where the programme had been public since the dog fight over Antarctica, with _President_ Landry, she had been married to, and divorced from McKay… What were the multiverses coming to?

He had previously given up all hope of ever being with Sam, but now he knew that what he wanted had not been impossible as previously thought.

He had to leave because he really did feel like crying now, and he knew that Jack would be dropping in to pick up Sam so they could…

No, he wasn't going to think about it as he had every single night since it happened nearly three years ago, haunted by images of what he could never have, soon to be joined by fresh images of that same alternate Sam finding her Daniel in amongst all of those other Daniels, and soundly kissing him… twice. Even if he hadn't encountered them earlier, there was no mistaking that those two were an item, especially when she had flipped out that St Christopher with her rings on it.

With a frustrated sigh, he quickly grabbed his jacket and hightailed it to the locker-room to change, and eventually go home, hopefully avoiding anyone he knew. He didn't know what he would do if he came across Jack, and he didn't really want to find out.


	4. The Astrophysicist

Sam sat in her lab, at the other end of the lab table that was closer to the back of the lab, and she pondered everything that she had seen and learnt during that mission, especially SG-1's encounter with the successful SG-1. She bit her lip as she recalled how happy her other self had been, how content and how much like a family that other team had been.

Had the mission's success ultimately depended on her knowing Daniel far more than she did? Why hadn't she been promoted by now? Well, that last one was obvious. It was bad enough when she had been promoted to Lt. Colonel by Jack and rumours spread that she had slept with him for the title, something which was far from true.

But now, she was in a relationship with him, and he was the head of Homeworld Security, above General Landry, who was above Cam, who in turn, was above her. Jack would have had to approve of the promotion, which would pose problems, and even if General Landry had recommended her for promotion, he was Jack's friend, and that too posed problems if perceived that she had only received the title because of her relationship with the Major-General.

Oh boy.

That other Sam had everything that she had ever wanted – a happy life, a wonderful career, and a family. Somewhere along the line, the alternate Samantha had been given her command back, but she had also been allowed to settle down… with Daniel.

For years, she had loved SG-1's Archaeologist, Linguist and Diplomat, but she hadn't done anything about it because he was in love with his wife. Sha're had been his driving force, his world, her retrieval from the hands of Apophis his main aim. How could she even hope for such extraordinary passion and such devotion directed at her like that?

She let him go.

She let him go and focussed her attentions on Jack. At first, she had thought that she had loved the man, but fraternisation regulations had always been an issue, and the Goa'uld and the Replicators had had a stranglehold on the galaxy. While all that was there, she never really had a chance to examine her feelings.

And then Daniel had died. As he lay dying, his organs slowly liquefying from the effects of _stupidly_ saving Kelowna from destruction – she still had to brush away a tear seven years on as she thought back to that day – she knew. She finally knew but she could barely get the words out. She loved him, was in love with him, and despite being a serving USAF officer capable of killing a man in ten different ways before he could hit the ground, she hadn't been able to tell him.

The year that he was gone had been the worst of her entire life. She had shut herself off from Jack, from everyone except Teal'c. Teal'c understood how the loss had affected her on a platonic, kinship level, but she knew that that was all… or was it? Even after all these years, their tall silent friend still managed to come out of left field at them.

After Daniel had come back, she concentrated on rebuilding their friendship, remembering how hard, how distant, and how bitter Daniel had become during the years prior to his 'death' when he had lost Sha're and was coming to terms with it by focussing on destroying the very race that had ruined his happiness. Another reason for rebuilding their friendship was that she was certain that despite his question on Vis Uban that he didn't return her confused, mixed up feelings, and she decided that their friendship was something that was too valuable to lose.

During her concussion-fuelled stint aboard the Prometheus, she had come to terms with her feelings for Jack, and knew that he was just her safety net so that she couldn't have her heart broken again, because of his unattainable nature due to the frat regs. Putting two of the biggest men in her life behind her, or so she had thought, she had made the biggest mistake of falling for a new man which had confused her further.

That ended when she bailed out on the wedding that they had planned, Pete even going so far to pay the deposit on their dream house. She just couldn't handle giving up the SGC and her place on SG-1 for him, plus feelings for Jack resurfaced, and she was even more confused than before, but then Daniel had gone again...

If 'confusion' had ever an Olympic sport, she would have won triple gold for sure.

But Jack had apparently moved on with _Agent_ Johnson… Well, who was she kidding, she couldn't give up her job, her life for him either, but she still felt sold out. All those years of things unsaid and little looks, and there he was cooking – or burning – meat in his backyard, Agent Johnson emerging from his backdoor, obviously on first name basis with him… or maybe on a 'honeybuns-snuggle bunny' basis.

The thought still made her shudder.

Her reason, prior to being sidetracked by Agent Johnson's presence, for being at Jack's house had been to get everything unsaid out into the open and to tell him that while Daniel was gone, she couldn't go through with their little game. Her rehearsed words had flown right out of her head on seeing the CIA Agent, and then there had been the bad news about her father to make it all worse.

In the present, forcing herself not to think about her Dad, she thought back nearly three years previously to when she and Jack had finally got together. She had returned, heavily injured from Hippolyta's planet, having been shot fatally in the back during the fire fight that had ensued when Cam had flatly refused to relinquish their weapons, despite Daniel assuring him that it was necessary to aid cultural cohesion.

During the many weeks of recuperation after the danger hours, she was brought home, and Cam, Daniel and Teal'c had insisted on staying with her. Shortly afterwards, Jack had flown in, admittedly scared out of his head at the prospect of losing her again without her knowing how he felt, and Teal'c, realising what could happen, had tried to persuade her not to make the biggest mistake of her life and to final open her eyes to what had been there the whole time.

But she hadn't listened. Why? Because finally Jack was there. He was finally going to be the one to take the initiative after she was about to get over him and move on. He had come back and addressed the issue.

Daniel had never objected, saying quietly that he was happy for her, for them both, but he wouldn't say anything else to her, and sometimes she would find him looking distant but he was none too forthcoming when asked what he was thinking about.

So, when her wound had healed enough so that she could be almost perfectly mobile, Jack and her had started dating, and within weeks, they had ended up in bed, and that was the end of that.

Since then, they had never had a steady life, meeting between her missions, and his top brass engagements and occasional stints over in Atlantis, and staying together for weekends and brief periods of mutual leave at Colorado Springs, D.C, and Minnesota. They didn't have a place of their own, and in nearly three years, he had never discussed marriage or even considered the idea of having children. When the topic of children, at least, had arisen, he had always changed the subject after saying something along the lines of,

'I can't do it again, Sam.'

That was the most she could get out of him emotionally, which saddened her. For the first year of their relationship, everything had been wonderful; fishing in Minnesota had been a novelty that soon wore off. She had soon discovered that they had little more in common than the Air Force, the SGC, cars, and incomparable interests in Astronomy.

That coupled with him seemingly being more interested in the physical side of things soon wore her down, but she had never complained because she had felt guilty. She had wanted this for years, she had told herself, so how could she be so picky when she was finally living her dream?

The sex, the fishing, the hockey, and the mostly silent beer nights became more and more tedious, the novelty wearing off, but she felt as though she couldn't say anything, couldn't do anything because she felt that she had deserved it, wanting something for so long, against all possibility, and then finding out that it wasn't as great as she had hoped.

She felt like a prize jerk for even contemplating breaking things off with him, and she was happy… wasn't she? But at times she felt as though his only interest in her lie in her body, having someone to hang out with, and not waking up alone following the nights that they had been together.

She exhaled a shuddering breath as she recalled how the other Sam and Daniel had been, how close that other team had been, and how it had been knowing their children's date of birth that had saved the day. In her mind's eye, she recalled seeing that other Sam suddenly appear from nowhere in that rocky plain full of Daniels, rushing towards her Daniel, the man spinning her around before they kissed twice, and then she and the rest of the team found themselves with Vala where Reynolds had beamed them down onto the planet earlier, Artur looking at them like they were a lost cause as he informed them that another Guinevere and Galahad had opened the Ark.

But Guinevere never went off with Galahad in the old stories, did she?

Remembering something, she reached into the pocket of her civvies, and pulled out the photos that the other Sam had let her keep, the ones that had given them all an insight into how things could have been. She sighed wistfully as she saw a picture of SG-1, Jack, the twins, Cassie… and Jonas (?!) on a beach, appearing to celebrate a birthday, judging by the large cake and huge grins.

Putting Jonas' bewildering presence down to the SGC wanting him back for some reason, she looked at how happy the other Cassie appeared. She hadn't heard from her Cassie since her relationship with Jack had become public. The Hankan had been overwhelmingly angry and had refused to speak to her, something which caused her no end of sadness.

Her gaze wandered to the twins, the girl in the alternate Daniel's lap, the boy in alternate Teal'c's, that Daniel's other arm around the other Sam in such an intimate gesture as he leant over to kiss her. She quickly brushed away a stray tear as she noticed how happy they both appeared, how beautiful their children were, and, in general, how overwhelmingly happy everyone else looked, especially Teal'c.

She moved to the next photo and more tears threatened to fall on seeing the twins, the girl, on closer inspection, greatly resembling Daniel, the boy, Mark. As she looked at the children that she hadn't had, she became increasingly aware of the years that had passed, the lost chances, and how unlikely it was that she would ever be a mother.

She bit her lip and was about to put the pictures away when she caught sight of some writing on the back of the beach party one, written in her own hand,

'_02-14-2008 – the twins' first birthday – the day Daniel proposed.'_

Her heart began to pound in her chest as she turned the other one over to see,

'_Cameron Janet and James Cameron Carter-Jackson, December 3__rd__, 2008.'_

She noticed that the date of the latter was the date that they had left for Ortus Mallum, meaning that the twins in that other Universe had been one year and nearly ten months when that other SG-1 had left, providing that that team had left for the mission around the same time that they had.

Before she could ponder further, she heard a noise and she quickly hid the pictures in her pocket and looked up to see Jack casually leaning in the doorway, an eyebrow raised as he remarked,

"You look tired."

Typical Jack, stating the obvious. She allowed herself a strained smile as she stood up, her tiredness catching up with her, and he approached her, looking concerned as he asked, gently pulling her against him as she rested her head on his chest,

"You ok?"

She nodded against his chest, and then shook her head, replying quietly, "I will be… I just need to…"

"Ah, ah, ah, Sam, don't say it! No working – you've just come back from a huge mission. I'm taking you home. Hank said that you had one hell of a ride out there."

She briefly stiffened on mention of that mission but as he didn't follow it up, she quickly relaxed again, and he asked,

"You got any idea what's up with Daniel? He's usually around in his office with those rocks 'til the small hours."

He'd gone home? Well, no wonder. He was obviously freaked out that they had been a couple in another Universe… She sighed and replied, tired,

"I have no idea… I haven't seen him since the briefing."

He raised an eyebrow as he gazed down at her in his arms, noticing that she had closed her eyes, and he said, "That is strange… Anyway, I'll call him from yours… you, Colonel, have got to get home. Come on."

His arm around her, he made to escort her when he realised that she hadn't kissed him as she usually did on seeing him. His eyebrow went back up and he remarked,

"No kiss? My, you're certainly wonderful for a man's ego. What is it, my cologne?"

She looked momentarily confused, and then something akin to reluctance flitted in her eyes before she kissed him on the cheek quickly. He shrugged her odd behaviour off as something to do with the failed mission, and he said,

"Right, come on, tired lady."

She leant into his embrace as they walked out, wondering what the hell she was going to do.


	5. The Archaeologist and a Cliff

Up off a mountain road, Daniel sat on the edge of a rocky precipice, Colorado Springs lying before him in all its nocturnal splendour as he thought deep thoughts in the cool night air. His feelings for Sam had reawakened once again and he wished that he could escape from them, because he was reminded of the fiery ferocity of those very feelings.

He had told himself time and time again, even more so since Sam and Jack had got together, that it was nothing, but he knew that it wasn't. He loved her, he was in love with her, and to be honest, no-one else would do.

God, this was such a mess. Two of his best friends were happy, and here he was with the power to ruin all that by attempting to get in between them. No, he couldn't do that.

He closed his eyes as he rolled his head back, and he promptly blushed as he remembered the other Sam caressing his other self's neck. Only his parents, Sarah and Sha're, and admittedly, Janet, and Carolyn knew of the sensitive spot on his neck. That gesture alone had implied that those two were very intimate and knew each other very well.

His thoughts then turned to that necklace. He couldn't believe that his other self had given that to the other Sam, because it meant not only that he greatly cared about her, but also that he wasn't scared to admit those feelings. It was a testament to how his relationship with the other Sam had freed him, and vice versa, the latter oh-so obvious in alternate Sam's appearance and mannerisms.

He sighed, and then thought back to what could have happened during SG-1's fifty year stint aboard the Odyssey. He had no idea what had happened, only that Teal'c didn't look too happy when questioned about it. Given that Sam had been with Jack before that mission, it wouldn't have surprised him in the least if he had spent those years with Vala. Thinking about it, they were both lonely and hurt, and he, at least, was fed up of waking up alone, day after day. Perhaps they had been together, but just for the sake of it, for the sake of doing something, both of them unable to do anything to solve the big problem of saving their lives. He would have paid to see how each of his friends had looked during those years, how they had behaved… on second thoughts, if he had remembered those years, it could result in an even greater depression. What if one of them had died during that time?

He sighed again, clearing his mind of that odd mission, and got back on track.

He was in love with Sam. There was no changing that, but he did have the power to change one thing – where he was. The problem was that if he resigned, Jack would be on his back faster than Richard Simmons at a cake convention as he had when he had considered resigning after Sha're's passing.

That left off-world. Well, he could always put in for reassignment to Atlantis again… What could happen? The Ori were gone, as were the Goa'uld and the Replicators, and hopefully Vala wouldn't have another as bright an idea as handcuffing them together again. His blood pressure had been unusually high during that period, and not in a good way.

The last time he had wanted to go to Atlantis, he had asked Sam if she had wanted to go but she refused, choosing instead to work at Area 51, which greatly disappointed him. He then surmised that she and Jack were going to have a go, but when they didn't, he was greatly puzzled until she had told him over the phone when he had come back to Earth that Cassie had had problems, and when he was gone, had taken an overdose.

So… he was running away, but it was for a good cause. He didn't know how much longer he could keep going to work at the mountain, working side by side with her, and being reminded time and time again of everything that he couldn't have.

Tears involuntarily ran down his cheeks just as the first drops of rain fell.


	6. The Best Friends

At her house, Sam, curled up in Jack's embrace, a blanket wrapped around her as she rested her head on his chest, her eyes closed, sighed, and he asked, "Are you sure that you don't want to go to bed?"

She shook her head and said, her eyes still closed, "I just need to unwind… I'm all tense."

"Ah… listen, I'll just go ring Dannyboy and then we can work on getting you in the past tense."

She cringed slightly at the pun, and then stiffened. His thumb about to dial the first number on the phone, he raised an eyebrow and asked,

"Sam? Have you and Daniel had a bust-up?"

She quickly – too quickly – shook her head, replying quietly as she laughed a bitter laugh, "We hardly talk any more, so there isn't an opportunity to cross swords. He's always hanging around with Vala."

His eyebrow still up, he looked at her before mentally shaking himself and resuming dialling. He put the handset to his head and frowned before eventually saying,

"Hey Daniel, it's me. I'm at Sam's – call me when you get this."

He disconnected and said, puzzled, "He's out."

"Try his cell…"

He dialled Daniel's mobile number from memory, which would have amused Sam at any other time, before disconnecting and saying as he gently moved her to a seated position as he made to get up,

"He's not picking up. I'm gonna check on him. It's tipping it down out there."

He peeked through a gap in the closed drapes to see that it was still raining heavily, which worried him more and she straightened up, scared, and asked, "Jack, do you want me to come along?"

He, emerging from the hallway as he shrugged his jacket on, replied, "Nope – you're pooped. Stay here and let me know if he rings."

She nodded and he paused, noting how scared she looked, and he said, his voice softening, "Hey, I could stay with you – I'll get Mitchell and T to look for him…"

"No, go find him."

He looked at her for a moment before approaching the couch and stooping to kiss her, saying as he ruffled her hair, "We'll get through whatever this is together, ok? I know I'm not exactly Dr. Phil but I want you to know that I'm always here for you."

She fought back the tears that suddenly sprung in her eyes and she held the blanket tighter and nodded, saying in a whisper as her gaze fell, "Yes Jack."

He smiled slightly at her and walked to the door as she followed. He kissed her once more, the two of them hugging briefly, and she watched him go. As he drove off, she hissed heatedly to the dark rainy sky,

"What the hell do you want from me?!"


	7. The Officer and the Student

Jack walked up Daniel's front path and was appalled to see the front door ajar. Quietly brandishing his 9mm, he stealthily approached the house, slowly opening the door and looking into the dark house, swearing silently as he wondered whether his best friend had been robbed, negligent or held at gun or weaponpoint by a lunatic alien with a crush on him.

Either way, he was seriously going to have to give the man a lesson in home security.

Hearing a noise as he neared the lounge, he quickly swung his gun into the room, calling as he saw a shadowy figure, "Freeze!"

A familiar young man, now looking considerably older than he had before, remarked as he came into view, "Jesus, no wonder Dannyboy never seems to have any guests… you've gotta stop being so damn jealous of the boy."

Jack, stunned, eventually replaced his gun and retorted, "What did I tell you about staying in touch… chiefly the _not_ and _it'll be weird_ parts?"

"Well, you see, Daniel's the best friend we'll ever have and you know it. He wouldn't leave me like that."

His fear for his friend overriding anything else, Jack asked, "You got any idea where he's gone?"

Mini-Jack replied as they both squinted when the older man put the lights on, "Jeez! Ah… I followed him one night after that whole Prior thing…"

"You know about the Ori?"

"Hey, you should know talking to me ain't treason… Daniel tells me a lot of things... Anyway, I'll give you directions. The guy likes rain."

After a moment's pause, Jack switched the lights off and led his younger self out of the house, the latter remarking, "So… you and Carter, huh?"

Jack wondered how much Daniel had told his guy as he replied, uncomfortable, "That would be _Sam_, and if it's anything to do with you, yes."

Mini-Jack shrugged as they both belted up in Jack's car, replying, "Good for you. Carter's a good woman."

Wanting to change the subject, Jack asked as he pulled away from Daniel's house, "So… what are you doing here then?"

"Ah well, I knew he was due back from that mission round about now… Quite frankly, I'm worried about him… he's not been himself for a long, long time. We've got one hell of a messed up Archaeologist, haven't we?"

"And then some… which way?"

"Straight up, second left, third right and up the left ridge."

"Jesus, he doesn't do anything by halves."

"Come on, it's Daniel we're talking about… of course he doesn't."


	8. The Interrogation

The Jacks drove up a mountain road, both of them inwardly scared for their friend as the rainstorm grew in ferocity. As Jack the elder neared the place where he had been directed by his younger self, they both could make out a shivering, huddled figure sat on the edge of the cliff, neither man needing to ask who it was. They quickly got out of the car, Jack grabbing a blanket from his back seat and the two men ran towards their mutual friend.

Daniel, his eyes closed as he idly wondered how long it would take for death or even pneumonia to come was surprised to say the least when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and then what appeared to be two men hauling him to his feet.

Oh great. What a day for the Trust to pick on him again.

He was about to say something that he felt he should, like 'get off', when he heard Jack's voice, and the man didn't sound very happy.

"Jesus Christ Daniel, you're soaking! Who told you that it was a good idea to go out in the rain?!"

Daniel sniffed and felt a blanket being wrapped around his shoulders and he said, hoarse, and squinting through his wet glasses, "Jack?"

He felt himself being steered, no doubt to a car, and Jack continued, "Fer cryin' out loud, you scientists are all the same. I've got Sam all damn moody at home, and now you're playing up again. Please tell me that you two haven't been fighting..."

Mini-Jack sighed and said, "Grump ass, lay off him."

Nothing more was said as they bundled a now surprised Daniel into the backseat of Jack's car, both O'Neills getting in the front, the elder man continuing his rant as he pulled away. Mini-Jack, sensing something was up, turned to see Daniel resting his head on the door pane, his eyes closed, and he, not being as oblivious as his older self, knew that something was up, something far deeper than accidentally being caught out in the rain. If his memory had served him correctly, the last time Daniel had done something like this was during his first year on SG-1, and he had been scolded severely by Janet for nearly catching pneumonia in the process.

The rain had died down by the time they had pulled up to Daniel's house, the Archaeologist breaking his silence to refuse a trip to Sam's house when Jack had suggested it. Mini-Jack remarked as they helped their friend in,

"Don't worry, I won't leave him..."

The 'unlike you', whilst being unsaid, was loud and clear. In some distant part of his mind, Jack was proud of his younger self yet ashamed of his own priorities. How could he have not noticed how much Daniel had changed for the worse these past years? What kind of a friend had he been?

The two men stripped their friend down to his boxers, covering him up with a blanket on the couch, his glasses resting on the coffee table, and Jack said with a sigh, "Right, I'm gonna phone Sam so that she doesn't pull the rest of her hair out, and then I want some answers from you."

Daniel didn't reply as he hugged himself beneath the blankets, wishing for all the world that some crazy alien had turned him invisible for whatever nefarious or otherwise purpose that they had in mind. Jack wandered into the kitchen with a lingering glance, brandishing his mobile, and his younger self, being far more insightful than his older self looked at Daniel with a slight knowing smile as he smoothed the Archaeologist's hair back, and he asked quietly,

"It's Carter, isn't it?"

His suspicions were confirmed by Daniel tensing up, and mini-Jack smiled a little more as he whispered, keeping an ear out for Jack, "I'm not gonna beat you up... I'm not him remember? To be honest, I don't know what she sees in him but that may be just me. We'll talk later, ok?"

Daniel nodded after a beat, his eyes opening slightly as he whispered back, "Thanks Jack."

"Much obliged Space Monkey."

Jack returned, flipping his phone shut as he remarked, "You're lucky Sam's feeling under the weather otherwise I'm sure she'd be round here to kick your ass... How could you do such a thing? You haven't done this since..."

Mini-Jack helped him, sighing, "Since Sha're."

"Yeah, since Sha're... you were staying with me... uh... us, and Janet yelled at us both. Jesus Daniel, what's wrong? I want to believe that you can tell me anything."

Daniel shook his head as he met Jack's gaze and replied, his face carefully emotionless as mini-Jack was half proud and half worried, "Nothing Jack... it's nothing."

"You do realise that if we had been any later, you would be dead or at least seriously ill?"

With an exasperated sigh, and channelling his long buried paternal instinct that should have been used with Charlie had the boy lived, he exclaimed as he stood up, pacing, "What possessed you to go out and half kill yourself like that?! Didn't you realise that it was pouring out there?! The water from the sky and you being soaking was a huge clue."

It greatly worried both Jacks that their charge hadn't said anything. This was far from his usual self. Usually he would argue with either man until he was blue in the face. Jack ran his fingers through his cropped hair and said, weary,

"Do you want me to stay? Minnesota can wait – it's done it before."

Daniel shook his head, and mini-Jack, getting a little misty-eyed about his favourite state, said with a dismissive gesture, "You go and let Carter have some rest – she sounds as though she needs it... I'll sort our Archaeologist out."

Jack perched on the coffee table again and leaned closer to his friend, asking softly, "Daniel?"

Daniel, despite feeling as though he was dying all over again inside, replied, "Just get the hell out of here Jack."

Jack smiled a little, knowing that his friend was still in there... somewhere. He ruffled his hair affectionately and said, "You know Sam's cell if clone boy doesn't work out."

Mini-Jack, belligerent, exclaimed, "Hey! Clone boy is sitting right here with better knees and will kick your ass from here to Edora. Now piss off."

"Fine, I know when I'm not wanted... Jack, walk with me."

With worried glances at their friend, they walked out of the lounge and out of the house to Jack's car, where Jack said to his younger self, "Anything happens... _anything..._ give me a call. You know I don't take my phone so you'll have to use Sam's number."

Mini-Jack patted him on the shoulder and said, "I got it covered – I am you after all, even if I'm not, and how many times have you asked anyone for help?"

"Good point... Take care of him... If Sam wasn't feeling upset, I'd stay."

"Don't feel guilty about it. It's ok – he's got me."

With one last look at his younger self, Jack got into his car and pulled away from the house, leaving mini-Jack to create a million and one hypotheses about what was wrong with their best friend... and my extension, his older self.


	9. The PreMinnesota Bit

Jack returned to find Sam still curled up the couch, this time tear stains on her face, and he sighed. After drying his head with a towel, he joined her, holding her close as he asked, "Sam? What's wrong?"

She shook her head so he changed the subject saying as he exhaled, "Well, if you're interested, Daniel's safe... he's got my clone looking after him."

She stiffened in surprise and looked up at him, asking, "Your clone? He's back?"

"Oh yeah, Daniel couldn't stay away from him."

"Quite rightly so – he is you."

"No he isn't."

"He has your memories though, and if that had been you, we'd never have abandoned you."

"Fer cryin' out loud, I did not abandon him!"

She sighed and settled back down as he gently ran his fingers down her arm and he asked, "So, you gonna spill or is this old General going to have to tickle it out of you?"

She didn't laugh like she always had done previously and he grew even more worried. He was about to say something when she reached under her blanket and pulled out two photos, handing them to him. Taking them with his free hand, he looked at her, bewildered, before looking at them. She said, her eyes closed,

"We came across another Universe's SG-1, and their Samantha and Daniel were married and were parents. Cassie's talking to them, and for some reason, they have Jonas with them. And that Sam had been promoted and had her command back."

He looked at the beach party picture, his face blank as he inwardly blanched on seeing the other Daniel kiss Sam, but he reasoned that it was a different Sam, not his. His wouldn't do that... would she? He noticed in the other picture how much like each of their parents the Carter-Jackson twins looked, and he let out a long breath as she inwardly winced, not knowing for once what was to come.

He wordlessly gave the pictures back to her, trying to ignore how happy everyone had looked unlike their counterparts in this Universe, and he said eventually, "Is that why you're upset?"

She didn't answer, didn't react, unsure of how he would take it, and he continued, growing more weary, "Sam, I told you that I can't give you children... I've been through it once with Charlie and I can't put myself through that again..."

Tears ran down her cheeks as she felt the last of her hope slipping away, and, feeling like a total cad, he delivered the final blow, "And besides, you're not getting any younger."

Oh God, he had to remind her of her age, didn't he? She immediately sat up, needing to put as much space between her and him as she said, heatedly,

"How subtle of you, Jack... how fucking subtle of you! Don't you think I know that I won't be able to have children in the immediate future?! Didn't you think that I've been hearing my biological clock ticking for the past seven years?! I don't need you to remind me that I'm nearly forty-four, ok?!"

In what he hoped was a pacifying manner, he held out his hands as he approached her now standing form, her back rigid, and he said softly, "Baby, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad. You know how bad I am with things like this."

She sniffed, not wanting to face him, and he gently rubbed her shoulders, knowing that she could never resist him. She hated him, hated herself as she relented, and he held her close after turning her around and said,

"We'll go to Minnesota tomorrow and we'll have the whole weekend to sort this out, ok? You need to rest – you're so highly strung."

Minnesota was the last place that she wanted to go but with those unshuttered puppy dog eyes looking down at her, she couldn't say no, so she relented once more, and nodded.

"That's my girl... come on, let's get some shut eye."


	10. The Transfer Request

Landry was hoping for a quiet Sunday what with the Ori being gone, the Goa'uld being too weak to do anything other than send the occasional albeit customary arrogant taunt that was their equivalent of Christmas cards, but he was going to be disappointed. As he finished up his paperwork, he heard a knock at his door and called, thinking that it was just Walter,

"You were in here five minutes ago, Chief!"

Walter, the little Sergeant who allegedly had psychic powers, called via the intercom, "It isn't me Sir – it's Doctor Jackson and he looks odd."

"Right, thank you..."

"Uh, you press the button to talk Sir."

Amused as he remembered to press the button this time, he replied, "Thank you Chief."

He called to the door, "Enter."

The door opened to reveal a troubled looking Daniel, who closed the door behind him, and Landry said, noting his demeanour, "What can I do for you Doctor? As I understand, you and the rest of the team are on leave now..."

"Sir... I'd like to request a transfer to Atlantis, please."

_That_ was unexpected, to channel a certain Major-General. Landry raised his eyebrows slowly and asked,

"A transfer? Why?"

Daniel straightened up as he replied, his eyes piercing straight into him, "I feel that my expertise is of better use there now that the Ori are gone, and I had planned on going there anyway 2005."

"Right... I'm just reluctant to break up a team that has done so well these past twelve years. Tell me what's wrong. What's caused this sudden change of heart?"

Daniel sighed and replied, "I just told you Sir. My scientific and Archaeological expertise would be of much better use in a scientific environment such as Atlantis."

Yes, and thousands if not millions of light years away from Sam and Jack, the ageing General thought. He sighed and said, his hands interlocked on the desk in front of him,

"Well, General O'Neill is going to have to approve the transfer and as he is officially incommunicado in Minnesota... I'll get a hold of him."

Something akin to fear flitted in the Archaeologist's eyes, and Landry said, his voice softening, "It's gonna be sad to see you go, Doctor. It's been a pleasure working with you."

"Likewise, General."

A moment later, Daniel turned on his heel and left Landry's office, leaving the General scratching his head and muttering obscure obscenities about stubborn Archaeologists. He then left to find Cam.

--------------------

Cam and Teal'c were shooting some hoops in the sports hall, both of them troubled by the tension between their friends, and as the Colonel had finished telling the Jaffa about shaking some sense into them, Landry entered, asking,

"Would either of you know about Doctor Jackson requesting a transfer to Atlantis?"

Cam dropped the ball, and the two men, stunned, turned to look at the General in confusion, Teal'c saying, "Indeed, he did not."

Judging by the way that neither of them had noticed the ball rolling away, Landry knew that they really didn't know. He huffed and said,

"I want both of you in my office."

"Uh Sir..."

"Don't bother changing."

"Right."

Cam and Teal'c exchanged a little glance as they left, following the General out of the hall and down several corridors, into the briefing room and to his office where he discussed the issue further.


	11. The Phone Call

Sam woke up, a familiar arm around her waist and an equally familiar face breathing against the back of her neck as she lay in bed in Jack's cabin in Minnesota. She sighed slightly before carefully extricating herself from his hold, his Special Forces training not waking him up due to the events of the previous night, and she reached for her phone which she had insisted on bringing along on the trip, not feeling completely safe without it.

She switched it on and frowned on seeing a missed call alert. Slipping on a t-shirt, she emerged onto the porch, damp with the morning dew, and, running her fingers through her hair, she dialled a number and said,

"Hi General, I just got a missed call from you... Uh-huh... Um, he's asleep... I'll just..."

She trailed off as she felt Jack's arms around her waist, the General drowsily nuzzling her as he asked, his body close to hers, "Who is it baby?"

Embarrassed by the fact that it was Landry on the other end, and that he could hear every word, she pushed him away gently, handing him the phone and saying in as calm a voice as she could muster, "It's General Landry."

He immediately woke himself up and grabbed the phone, looking at her oddly for a moment as he said into it, "Hey Hank... yeah... oh shit!"

She immediately turned on hearing the exclamation, hoping that the Ori hadn't returned somehow, and she was about to ask him what was up when he put his hand over the mouthpiece and looked straight at her, saying,

"Get dressed Sam, we're going back to Colorado."

She closed her eyes briefly before racing indoors to change as she heard Jack's voice, "But he can't do that! Did you even try to stop him?! Uh-huh... yeah... Damn."

Ok, it sounded as though Bill or Jay had done something, but then why would Landry want to talk to Jack instead of her? The mind boggles.

The phone call over, he came into the cabin as she pulled her jacket on, and he said, looking annoyed, "He's quitting."

Confused, she asked, "What? Who?"

"Daniel."

Oh God. She closed her eyes and had to sit down before her knees buckled, and he continued, pushing himself from the door frame and sitting down next to her, "He's going to Atlantis. I don't know why, but all I know is that I've got to stop him. Hank wants me to straighten Space Monkey out which means we have to go."

He put an arm around her as she leant into his embrace, and she whispered, sad, "I don't want him to go, Jack... I hated that year."

He gently kissed her, replying with a grim expression, "Me too."


	12. The Face Offs

After a mostly silent ride home, Jack raced to Landry's office, agreeing with Sam that she should wait in Daniel's office lest he decide not to show up, and so she did. Folding her arms across her chest, she perched on the front edge of her one-time best friend's desk and waited, feeling more and more like being there was a bad idea.

A few minutes later, Daniel appeared in the open doorway, surprised to see her. He was about to walk away when he thought better of it and asked, feeling dead inside as he stepped into his office,

"What are you doing here?"

Staring at him for a moment in disbelief, she quickly pushed herself off his desk and stormed up to him and slapped him across the face, hard. He stayed turned away from her, feeling rotten, and she said, her voice wavering with emotion,

"When were you going to tell me that you were resigning?! Didn't you think that I'd notice you suddenly being replaced by Balinsky?! Didn't you think I'd hurt!? Didn't you think that I'd miss you?!"

He snapped, his voice cold as he finally met her fiery gaze, "Why does it always have to revolve around you, Sam? I just want to go to Atlantis."

"Yeah, thousands of light years away without so much as a 'so long and thanks for all the fish'! Why are you doing this? Did that other reality freak you out _that_ much that you can't stand being near me?!"

He shut his eyes tightly and said in a whisper, "Sam, just leave it. I'm going to Atlantis."

He turned away from her, his back ramrod straight as he continued, pinching the bridge of his nose, "There really is no point in me staying here any more."

"Why not? There's still the cleaning up with the Jaffa to do, and then who knows what's going to happen with the programme... Please don't quit Daniel – SG-1 needs you."

His shoulders slumped as he replied, "I don't have a reason to be on the team any more – the Ori are gone, and I can join the expedition like I'd originally planned before Vala practically shackled herself to me..."

She gently turned him around and said, upset as his gaze fell, "Daniel, you were always a bad liar... What is it?"

"It's nothing Sam. Just leave it. It's nothing to do with you or anyone else – it's something that I have to deal with by myself and the sooner I'm away from here, the better."

"Do you honestly think that I'm going to let you go? And even if you... you kill me, there is no way that Jack is going to let you go through that 'gate without a good enough reason."

Angry and hurt, he snapped, "Sam, just leave it, ok?! Why do you have to get in my way?! I want to go to Atlantis and that's that... I don't need you and your... _ boyfriend_ messing with me."

Taken back by the sting of his words, she held him by his shoulders as she tried to make him see reason, but he refused, descending into acerbic comments, so she slapped him across the face again, unable to channel her grief any other way.

"Daniel! Why the hell are you going?! It's a simple question!"

His steely gaze met hers and he said in a dangerously calm voice, "Do you really want to know why I'm going, why I can't stay here?!"

Not seeing the warning signs, or caring for that matter, she threw her hands down and said, exasperated, "Yes!"

She suddenly found herself pressed against the wall, his lips upon hers and she gasped. She tried to escape but he had skilfully trapped her hands and she was stuck. He pulled back, thoroughly disgusted with himself and he stormed out, whispering an apology as she sobbed against the wall, her knees buckling.

--------------------

While Sam wept in her office, confused and upset at what had happened and what would happen, Daniel stormed through the SGC looking ready to bite anyone's head off. In his anger and irrationality, he missed Jack until it was too late, the General grabbing him by the arm and dragging him into Landry's thankfully empty office.

Closing the door behind him, Jack said in a no-nonsense tone, "Right, out with it."

Daniel, already angry beyond measure, almost stamped his foot as he said, "Jack! Stop trying to control my life! I'm going!"

"Like hell you are. You're forgetting that I have to approve your transfer and I'm not doing it without a solid reason for this craziness."

Daniel debated whether to tell him the truth which would undoubtedly result in him getting the next wormhole to Atlantis, and a free sending off gift in the form a punch, but he decided not to, instead exclaiming angrily,

"Then I'll resign and go to Egypt!"

Jack grabbed fistfuls of the Archaeologist's shirt front and shoved him against the nearest wall, unaware of the audience in the briefing room, and he said, "Over my dead body. The team needs you!"

Unperturbed by the position that he was being held in, Daniel, aiming low, shot back, "Oh yes, you value my judgement, like the time when you killed Reese... or... or when you were ready to blow that Gadmeer ship out of the sky! Or how about that time when I was a Prior – you just walked away like you always do! Let's face it Jack, you don't really see me as a man, do you? I was just your whipping boy."

Jack, regretful at his _encouraging_ display of trust in his best friend, let him go and said dismissively, "Of course I see you as a man, and where the hell did you get that about being a whipping boy? You're my best friend."

"Funny... At one time, I would have believed that."

"Oh God Daniel, you are my best friend, you really are."

"Not any more Jack. You can't undo years of crap with a few words. I am going."

Great Danny, he thought, you just made your best friend believe that he's to blame for your admittedly odd behaviour. Way to go. Well, at least he doesn't suspect that you have a thing for his girlfriend – _that_ would be messy.

The two men exchanged looks that conveyed their own pain, and then Daniel quietly left, leaving Jack to call as their audience discreetly stepped out of view, "Not even a kiss goodbye?"


	13. The Crying Colonel

Cam wandered down the corridor, his hands in his pockets as he whistled, on the surface cheerful but inwardly apprehensive of what could happen with regard to his band. He stopped and then turned on hearing Vala calling him, and he said with a grin as he scratched the back of his head, the two of them beginning to walk,

"Hey, how was... that?"

She replied with a distant smile, "It was alright... the IOA sent him home on the Odyssey after letting him talk to me with a disagreeable woman in a black suit standing in the corner and looking at me like a hawk. As if Tomin would escape in my back pocket..."

"Well, she's probably more worried that Tomin would do something to you."

"Ah, that whole 'well, I'm off so I'll kill you' thing..."

"Something like that... So..."

He discreetly glanced at her and asked, "Do you miss him?"

She shrugged and replied, glancing back at him although not as discreetly, "In a way, yes, but we're two very different people – it would never have worked."

Her answer resulted him releasing a breath that he hadn't known that he was holding, and he said, "Well, he did have that whole 'follow the Ori' thing down pat."

"He's a good man, Cameron."

Chastened, he said quietly, "Sorry."

"So..." she began with characteristic exuberance, "... where are you going?"

"Oh, I'm off to see Sam... Jackson's threatening to resign now, and she and the General got called from Minnesota. I'm not sure how she's gonna take it..."

"She's not going to be dancing on the tables."

"That's for sure."

He sighed and said, "I think she might resign too. She once told me about his ascended year, and that it was one of the hardest, if not the hardest thing that she had ever had to go through, which is saying something when you read some of those reports from the glory days... If he goes, she'll go, and heck, I'll bet Teal'c will go, leaving us two... I don't want to work with anyone else but those guys so I suppose I'll have to transfer out of the mountain..."

She, feeling left out, asked, "What about me?"

He shrugged and said, "You could always come live with me... if you want to that is."

She offered him her most winning smile as she replied, "Thank you... that would certainly be interesting."

"Interesting good or interesting bad?"

"The fact that I accepted means that it's the former... I do like you, you know, contrary to whatever preference that I may have conveyed previously."

He smiled at her, a touch embarrassed as he replied, "I'd have to say that the feeling's mutual."

"Good! Well, I'm happy."

"Me too."

"Yep, us new people have to stick together."

"We're hardly new – you've been here almost three years, and I've been here nearly four..."

"It's the concept, Cameron... how many years have our heroic trio been in this game?"

"Touché."

Confused, she asked, "Was that some sort of an Earth insult that I haven't heard yet?"

Glaring at her briefly, he said, "It's not an insult... Ask Jackson when he's stopped acting up."

They had reached Sam's lab, and he quietly entered, Vala following him as they noticed a bereft looking Sam sobbing quietly. Cam immediately shut the door as Vala perched on the table near Sam, and the southern Colonel asked as he picked up a chair and sat down next to her,

"Sam? What's wrong?"

She willingly allowed herself to be pulled into his arms as she replied between sobs, "I had a bust up with Jack, and I threatened to resign... I can't work here without Daniel..."

Glancing up at an equally concerned Vala, Cam gently rocked his friend, saying, "It's ok Sam, I got T working on him in the locker-room... How long can that guy stay mad for? As for that General of yours, he's just as worried about him as you are, and you know it... it'll all work out."

"No it won't because Daniel hates me, and now Jack does."

Grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her to meet his gaze, he said intensely, "Sam, listen to me, no-one hates you. _No-one. _We just need to get Jackson sorted and we'll be fine."

"Oh God, I wish that were true."


	14. The Air Supply Song

_Lyrics featured are Air Supply's All out of Love_

_--------------------_

Coming home by herself, having flatly refused Cam's frequent requests to drive her home, Sam, still crying that she was going to lose Daniel, quickly undressed, changing into her pyjamas and went to bed, her insides feeling as though they were gradually dying. Longing to hide from the rest of the world, and idly regretting not misappropriating some relevant piece of alien technology; she pulled the blankets over her head and sobbed.

All the while, the memory of Daniel's bewildering kiss remained strong in her mind, and on further reflection, she realised that despite his anger and hostility, it had been gentle and surprisingly reserved. What was that about? What was going on? It was obvious that he was leaving because of her, but what had she done?

She then recalled how he had referred to Jack, not as Jack, but as _her boyfriend_, which was very strange seeing as the two men had been like brothers once upon a time. It was then that she thought back to that alternate team again and how happy everyone had looked, how much closer they were, and she wished that this Universe would have some semblance of that. As she closed her eyes, she could see the other Sam and Daniel, how that Sam had been loosened up a lot more... Was it true? Had being with Daniel made her so carefree and had his alternate self been so happy because of being with her alternate self?

After all, when it came down to it, it was that version of Sam and Daniel who had opened the Ark and saved the multiverses, so it must have been something about them that allowed for that.

Yes, they had been married, and what were the odds that their Universe was the only one in that quantum vicinity that had those two together, and parents? Perhaps if there were other Universes with them as a couple, they had named their children differently, but judging by the way those hundred or so Daniels reacted to that Sam and Daniel kissing perhaps said that that Universe was unique in most respects.

Jack stormed back to her house, angry after not only Daniel threatening to resign, but Sam too, and then the rest of the team following suit shortly before Hank had had the audacity to even suggest how he should fix things with _his_ girlfriend... Yeesh, who did guy think he was? He was all set to give her hell, McDonalds style, when he entered the bedroom and saw her, her sobs making his chest hurt.

His anger disappearing, he took his shoes off and joined her, smoothing her stomach beneath her pyjama top as he said, "Baby, tell me what's going on."

Suddenly, all became clear. She was still fuddled about what she wanted, but she sure as heck knew what she didn't. She quickly leapt out of bed as if it had suddenly caught on fire and threw her clothes back on, much to Jack's evident bewilderment.

"Sam? What the _hell_ are you doing?"

Turned away from him, she replied quietly, "I... I don't know how to say this..."

Getting a bad feeling, he said cautiously, "Facing me might help."

She reluctantly turned to face him, and he noticed her tears falling, and the bad feeling grew. She said, looking and feeling absolutely sad yet determined, "Jack... I can't keep doing this any more."

He snapped, not liking what his inner voice was screaming, "Doing what?"

She threw her hands down, saying, "This! I.. I can't keep it up. I hate Minnesota... I... I hate fishing..."

She closed her eyes and continued with a shuddering breath, "I think we should call it a day Jack... It's been great but..."

Oh crap.

He suddenly had the urge to run clear of Colorado as the implications of her words sank in, and he quickly got up, very angry. Scared, she said, truly meaning it,

"I'm sorry Jack, I really am... this isn't how I wanted things to play out between us..."

He stormed out, and she, crying, called after him, "Jack... please don't leave like this... not like this."

He paused in the doorway, his back scarily straight as he said in a dangerously low voice as his heart sank on remembering something Hank had said, "I hope you're happy with Daniel."

And then he was gone, forcing himself to leave before he said something that he would later regret... They each needed some time out, that's all... she hadn't meant those things that she had said... right?

She sobbed violently as she heard the screeching of tyres outside and collapsed back onto the bed, clutching her pillow to her stomach. She had lost two of the biggest men in her life on the same day, and now all she needed was Teal'c to have a vendetta against her to make it even. Maybe she should attempt to steal his ice cream...

Needing to hear something other than her own racing thoughts as she felt totally and utterly worthless, she reached up a hand to switch the bedside radio on, and she smiled despite her tears on hearing the last half minute of Twist and Shout, and then her smile faded as she recognised the next song, the words slowly filtering into her consciousness as though they were speaking to her, albeit cryptically as she placed her hand on the phone, wondering who she could call:

"_I'm lying alone with my head on the phone  
Thinking of you 'til it hurts  
I know you hurt too but what else can we do  
Tormented and torn apart?_

_I wish I could carry your smile in my heart  
The times when my life feels so low  
It would make me believe what tomorrow could bring   
When today doesn't really know, doesn't really know _

_I 'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you  
I know you were right believing for so long  
I 'm all out of love, what am I without you?  
I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong _

_I want you to come back and carry me home  
Away from these long lonely nights  
I'm reaching for you, are you feeling it too?  
Does the feeling seem oh so right?_

_And what would you say if I called on you now  
And said that I can't hold on?  
There's no easy way, it gets harder each day  
Please love me or I'll be gone, I'll be gone _

_I 'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you  
I know you were right believing for so long  
I 'm all out of love, what am I without you?  
I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong _

_Oh, what are you thinking of?  
What are you thinking of?  
What are you thinking of?  
What are you thinking of? _

_I 'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you  
I know you were right believing for so long  
I 'm all out of love, what am I without you?  
I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong..._"

As the song ended, the radio station cutting to an advert break, she switched the radio off as she let the words settle in. She allowed herself to realise that Jack had been a mistake. She shouldn't have gone with him, but then again, that assertion was made after taking that path, but the other Sam didn't have to take that path to tell her how wrong Jack was for her. But... in this Universe, the one that mattered she snippily thought, she had to make the journey before being able to judge the rightness of it.

It didn't matter if Daniel didn't love her that way, despite her feelings for him resurfacing once again and she not allowing herself to bury them again as she always had; she had to stop him from leaving. The onus was on her. If she remained insistent on resigning, Teal'c would leave, then Cam and Vala would, so she had to stop him... for the team's sake, right?

A distant part of her mind laughed, remarking, you keep saying that Samantha and you might start believing it.

Suddenly on a mission, she got up and rushed to the bathroom to wash her face before racing downstairs and into the garage to get her bike and a spare helmet... to save the team at the very least and to straighten out her one-time and hopefully soon-to-be again best friend.


	15. The Start of Something New

Daniel lay on his couch, feeling thoroughly miserable as mini-Jack talked to him on the phone, asking after him. He sighed as he put the phone down, thinking about how he was going to get away from the mountain without his friends getting in the way. He closed his eyes, trying unsuccessfully to stop a memory resurfacing of accidentally walking in on Sam and Jack in the former's lab once... he had avoided the room when possible since the day he had seen them kissing.

The very sight had made him sick to the stomach, that it had been Jack that had been the one to make her happy, and not him. What the hell did Jack O'Neill have that he didn't? Wait, the military... sure, he could fly alien craft, but that was because they were built for a technologically superior race that only had to press a few buttons, and to be honest, weren't exactly the brightest members of the Milky Way family. He had no clue about regular aircraft that both Jack and Sam could proficiently fly... that was a big reason. Another was that they were both speed freaks and he... wasn't.

He sighed, wondering if he could get away with misappropriating the 'gate when an urgent knocking pulled him out of his reverie. He frowned, hoping that it wasn't Jack otherwise he was seriously going to have to consider dotting the man just to get him to leave him alone. He scrubbed his face with his hands, putting his glasses back on as he made a mental note to not deliberately miss his next combat training session with Teal'c, and he opened the door to find, much to his abject surprise, Sam staring back at him.

He blinked and was about to open his mouth to speak, when she pushed him straight back into his house, saying as she closed the door behind her, "I don't want you to resign, Daniel."

Standing in the middle of his lounge and feeling broken, he replied quietly, "That's not your decision... and I have to go, Sam. You don't understand."

"Then explain it to me."

He briefly met her gaze and she was taken aback by the pain swirling in, and clouding his beautiful eyes. Oh God, what had she done for him to hurt like this?

As if reading her mind, he said, turning away again, "I don't have a reason to stay."

"Oh yes you do."

Turning towards her in surprise, he was surprised further when she pushed him up against the nearest wall and kissed him as he had done to her earlier. Shocked and stunned at first, his long-held desire eventually overwhelmed him, and he kissed her back.

Fighting with himself, he eventually managed to push her away before things went too far, and he said, his eyes downcast, his voice wavering, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

"I started it."

"It's... Sam, you've got to stop playing games with me... You're with Jack and you're happy. Who am I to come in between you?"

Smiling as she was inwardly elated at the implied admission of his feelings for her, she said, reaching behind him to caress his neck, "You're wrong about three things..."

Surprised, he met her gaze and asked, confused, "I am?"

Smiling at him, she nodded as his eyes flickered slightly, and she said, "Yes. I'm not playing games with you; I'm not with Jack, and I won't be happy until you reconsider your resignation... Does that answer your questions?"

Smiling briefly, he remarked as he pushed his glasses up quickly, "I didn't ask anything."

He squirmed and held the wrist of the hand that was touching his neck, stopping the caresses as he said, "I'm sensitive there."

"Oh, I think I figured that one out by myself, Daniel."

They gazed at each other for a few more moments, and then he said, his gaze falling, "I'm scared."

She was touched at the admission, knowing that he had an emotional wall comparable to Jack's, and she grabbed him by the wrist, dragging him towards the front door. Surprised once again, he resisted, saying,

"Sam?"

Fire in her eyes, she said, "You think you're scared now... I'll show you something far scarier..."

He gulped, asking, "You're not going kill me... are you?"

"Of course not."

"Torture?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Pinning me to the wall while Jack punches the living daylights out of me?"

She stopped as she opened the front door and laughed, remarking, "Daniel... it's my bike."

"Oh... I think I'll choose being punched by Jack... at least I know where I stand... or not."

Shaking her head in disbelief, she pulled the door shut behind him and handed him a helmet. She got on and when he precariously sat behind her, she rolled her eyes as she lifted her visor, remarking heatedly,

"Daniel, hold me or fall off, I don't give a damn!"

After a moment, she said, staring straight ahead, "Daniel, contrary to what I just said, I don't actually want you to fall off."

She put her visor back down and started up the engine as he hesitantly slipped his arms around her waist, and she sped down his street, aiming for the mountain roads so that they could talk things over.


	16. The General thinks

Jack had driven to some deserted wasteland outside of the city and parked up. He had a lot of thinking to do about where he and Sam were at present, and he wasn't going to accept an end so soon to a relationship in which they had both been happy. Surely she hadn't meant what she had said about Minnesota and fishing... she must have been one hell of an actor if she had.

He sighed as he scrubbed his face with his hands and got out of the car. He sat on the bonnet, his back resting against the windscreen, and he yelled to the open cloud darkened sky, not caring if he was heard,

"What the hell do you want from me?!"

He put his face in his hands in an attempt to collect his thoughts, and he said to himself, "Well, you've been one hell of a boyfriend, haven't you? So far, you've only thought of what you want, what you need. What have you got to say for yourself, Airman? She wanted to get married, but you said no... Fer cryin' out loud, you're no spring chicken and you should have been flattered that she wanted a steady life with you instead of a roll in the hay like so many women you've been with between Sara and her.'

"... she wanted a baby, and you said no. Really soldier, what have you going for you that you think you can do things like that? Sure, you're hurtin' 'cos of Charlie, but that wasn't her fault... so why are you punishing her?'

"Because I can't punish myself enough.'

"There you have it. One hell of a Doctor Phil moment and no beer nearby... Yeesh, my head hurts."

He exhaled slowly and said, "Ok... first thing's first, you're gonna apologise, and then you're going to get down on one knee and propose to her, like a man. You're lucky she's stayed with you this long, and quite frankly, if you were in her place, you would've shot _you_ years back. You gotta give the woman some credit at least for not aiming those deadly fists at you...'

"Then after that, no sidestepping the issue about babies... even if she can't have one, you can always adopt. Don't be so quick to shoot that down... again."

He took a deep breath, finally feeling some resemblance of peace, and then he remembered Daniel. He still didn't know what he was going to do but if it meant zatting him to get him to stay, he would do it. Damn that immortal Archaeologist.

He sighed and set about winning his girlfriend back, swinging his legs off the bonnet and sliding off before getting in his car, and then he paused. Raindrops had begun to fall on the windscreen and he closed his eyes, remembering Sam say something about raindrops, refraction and diamonds. She had been so excited and passionate, and yet he shot her down as he usually did, rolling his eyes and saying,

'_They're just raindrops, Sam.'_

Now, he would do anything for her to be as passionate with him again, to hear her voice rise as she explained something... _sciency_, and then maybe Daniel could ask if _sciency_ was even a word... oh, and Teal'c would then demand an explanation of the term _sciency_ in his own way. Oh, he missed his team.

Smiling wistfully, he began the journey back to Sam's house, finally ready to stop messing around and taking her for granted.

--------------------

Jack opened the door to Sam's house, finding not one of the downstairs lights on so he surmised that she was still in bed. Boy, he had some grovelling to do. He ascended the stairs calling so as not to startle her,

"Baby, it's me..."

He stopped short in the doorway of the bedroom to see her pyjamas still on the floor where she had left them during their row, the bed sheets still a mess, and he quickly looked in the other rooms. He was about to call her mobile when he sighted it on the nightstand and he exclaimed quietly to himself as he sprinted downstairs.

Unlocking the adjoining door to the garage, his stomach sank into shoes on noticing her bike gone, and he remarked to himself as he made to go back into the house to go and look for her in the now heavier rain, "Sometimes, it's a wonder that her and Daniel aren't the same person..."

That thought had made him feel uneasy and he mentally shook himself as he hopped into his car, wincing as his knees began to flare up because of the damp weather.

--------------------

He drove around Colorado Springs until nightfall, still not finding her, and was all set to call the SGC when he was driving down one particular road and saw her... with Daniel, both of them laughing and talking to each other as they wheeled her bike between them, neither caring about the heavy rain nor the fact that they were absolutely soaked. What really hurt him was how happy she looked; both of them... when had either of them been _that_ happy? She had certainly never laughed like that with him.

He should have stopped, he knew it. It was tipping it down and they were drenched and would probably contract pneumonia... but he couldn't do it. His chest began to feel heavy as he passed them, watching them in his rear-view mirror, the two of them acting as though the world around them had disappeared, leaving the two of them.

At the back of his mind, he thought, 'Well, at least Daniel's staying,' but the rest of him had a sudden urge to consult Doctor Teal'c.


	17. The Talk

Sam had parked up near a rocky precipice overlooking the city, not knowing that it was the exact spot, in that much coveted other Universe where the other Sam and Daniel had driven to, and she looked at Daniel, smiling as he took his helmet off, looking about ready to collapse. She ran her fingers through her hair as she looked out at the view and he said, spooked,

"This is where I come to think."

"Spooky."

They gazed at each other for a moment before putting their helmets away and sitting on the precipice, their legs over the edge. After a moment of silence, she said, looking out at the city,

"I'm sorry Daniel."

Surprised, he turned to look at her and asked, "Why?"

She met his gaze briefly and turned away again as she replied, "I hurt you, that's why. I fell in love with you on Abydos but I never did anything for obvious reasons, and then after that, everything just got so messed up. And you never said anything..."

He gently reached up to push a stray tendril of hair behind her ear as he replied softly, "I'm sorry Sam, but the last thing I wanted was to come in between you and Jack – you two had danced around that whole thing for years, and me coming into the picture with my own feelings wasn't going to help matters."

"God, I'm not blaming you Daniel... I'm sorry for that. It's just if I hadn't been so stupid, we could have reached this point sooner rather than being shoved by an alternate universe."

"That must be a nice place."

Smiling slightly, she said, "Yeah..."

Her smile vanished as she continued, "Their Cassie's on speaking terms with them..."

Remembering the photos, he asked, "Do you still have them?"

She reached into her jacket pocket, saying, "It's all I could think about... well, that and how those two were acting around each other."

He chuckled, embarrassed, and she handed him the photos. He remarked as he looked at the party one,

"Everyone's so happy... and... they have Jonas?"

He met her gaze questioningly and she shrugged, saying, "I know as much as you do... I'm betting that they called him back, or Jonas didn't leave for Langara again..."

"Hmm, maybe, but to have had those babies, you would have been out of action for a good year at least, which means that you would have had to have been replaced on missions... I wonder why he proposed to her on the babies' first birthday though?"

"That is one hell of an enigma."

"Hmm. Maybe he was injured."

He gazed at the picture of the Carter-Jackson twins and smiled a little. He said as he held her hand, "Cameron looks a lot like my mother, and James looks a lot like you."

She smiled back at him, a touch embarrassed, and she asked, "Where do we go from here?"

When he looked at her oddly, she remarked, "You're not the only who's scared."

He shrugged and said as he gave the photos back to her, "I don't know Sam. I really don't know..."

They gazed at each other, both of them feeling as though they were on the brink of something huge and unknown but not all together unpleasant. They found each other drawn to the other's lips, and when he hesitated out of what must have been his inherent politeness, she grabbed him by his shirt front and completed the kiss, both of them almost hearing fireworks and popping champagne corks as they lost themselves in the embrace... right as it began to rain.

--------------------

Half-soaked, they parted, still holding onto each other and he said, looking shocked, "Wow... that was... wow..."

She smiled, the feeling mutual, and she said, holding him tighter, "My thoughts exactly."

He grinned at her, saying as he gently cupped her jaw, and feeling as though his walls had broken down, "I love you so damn much."

Knowing that the profanity was his way of expressing how long he had been holding his feelings in, she grinned back at him, remarking, "I'd say that the feeling's mutual, Doc."

They kissed once again and then held onto each other as though letting go after finding each other was the last thing that they had wanted to do. She ran her fingers through his soaking hair and said,

"I never want to lose you again, Daniel, ok?"

Kissing her now cold neck, he replied, "Likewise."

They held onto each other for a long time until he said, stroking her shoulder, "Sam?"

"Yep?"

"Do you think we should go before we catch pneumonia? Carolyn's pretty scary – not as scary as Janet but still scary."

Remembering their friend, she nodded and said, "Sure, but it's nice here."

Caressing her jaw, he replied, gently kissing her, "It sure is."

They helped each other up and she asked, "Uh... Daniel? Is there a walking way back to your house? I'm not willing to risk either of our lives by riding in this weather."

"Yep..."

They smiled at each other as they wheeled her bike between them as they walked back to his house, laughing and joking along the way.


	18. The Talk and a Visitation

As Daniel unlocked his door and opened it, the rain still pouring, Sam hesitated, unsure of whether she should follow him in. Sensing this inner turmoil, he turned to her and said,

"Sam..."

Trying not to look worried, she said, unsure, "Daniel... I don't think it would be a good idea if I came in... I mean I..."

She trailed off and he smiled slightly, amused as he remarked, "Sam, you're still my friend and you're soaking wet..."

His smile faded into a tender expression as he continued, stroking her cheek, "I know you've just broken up with Jack."

She made eye contact with him for a few moments, and he said, looking hopeful, "I could always use someone to talk to who isn't me. Although if it's just me, I won't have to lend me my spare clothes... which _might_ fit you..."

She smiled and then laughed before saying, "Ok... um, where..."

"Oh, we'll put that in the garage – come on."

She kissed him on the cheek and said, "Thank you," as they wheeled her bike into the garage, he cracking another smart-arsed comment and making her laugh.

--------------------

Upstairs in his bedroom, he gave her a towel, a t-shirt and sweats, saying, "These should fit you although I am a bit taller than you... The bathroom's yours if you want to shower."

Concerned, she asked, "What about you?"

"Oh, I'll change in my spare room..."

Noting her awkward expression, he rolled his eyes and said as he picked up a change of clothes for him, "Sam, you're a guest... and besides, how many times have I had you in my bedroom, let alone my shower?"

She laughed, murmuring nervously, "Good point."

He looked at her for a moment, scarcely believing the turn of events during the past few hours, and he said, walking towards the door, "I'll get a pot of coffee ready."

And with that he closed the door, leaving her to get ready.

--------------------

As he made coffee and tried hard not to think blush worthy thoughts about the woman of his dreams who was currently in his shower, he noticed that the message light was flashing on his phone.

"Jackson, give me a call as soon as you get this... General O'Neill's almost exploding."

"DanielJackson, I do believe that O'Neill has surpassed a volcano in terms of fury. Return this call immediately."

"Dannyboy, I know it's raining but if you go out, I'll break your legs... or worse, find some way of getting Teal'c to do it. Capische? Seriously, call me, I'm worried and you know me."

'_Unfortunately, I do Jack.'_

After quickly assuring Cam and Teal'c that he was alright and not in trouble but evading all other questions, Daniel dialled mini-Jack's number as he poured the coffee.

"Jack..."

"Daniel... please tell me that you haven't been walking out in the rain... I've been trying to get a hold of you for hours!"

"I do have a life."

"Oh-ho! Who's the unlucky girl?"

Daniel sighed, unsure of what to say so he said instead, "I'll tell you everything another time, Jack... it's complicated."

Mini-Jack's voice took on an odd tone as he said, bemused, "Oh, so you and Carter finally got your asses in gear, huh?"

"Jack!"

"Oh fer cryin' out loud, Daniel, like you're suddenly gonna start dating again! You've been into Carter for years! I'm gonna see if I can wrangle Hank to get his wonderful daughter to do some tests on you although he doesn't recognise me now, which isn't a surprise... Anyway, no suicide attempts...?"

"Jack!?"

"Hey, someone's gotta look out for you and grump ass isn't doing a good job, ok? If I was really him, I wouldn't have neglected you like that."

"Jack, Jack didn't neglect me. Look, I'll talk you later."

"Fine, whatever. Go easy on that coffee."

"Ok, bye Jack."

"Bye... and, Daniel?"

"Yes Jack?"

"Congratulations."

Before Daniel could react, the line had been disconnected, and he looked shell-shocked at his friend's seeming omniscience at the least likely of times, despite knowing Jack for years even if this Jack was basically a facsimile of the real McCoy.

'_That man never fails to surprise me... always pulling rabbits out of his metaphorical nine mil...'_

He sighed as he finished pouring the coffee and was startled when he heard Sam's voice asking, "Who was it?"

He turned to her, replying, "Oh, that was Jack... the other one."

Comprehension dawning, she smiled and he noticed her wearing the clothes he had given her, her hair still damp from the shower, and she said, "How is he?"

"Oh great... he, um, he's at Colorado State during Sports Science."

"That's good."

Handing her a mug, he replied with a shrug, "He wanted to stay closer to me... I told him to go to Harvard but he insisted on staying here... I mean, he could have gone to Harvard to do Ancient History – he had the grades but..."

Her jaw dropped and she asked, surprised, "Jack and Ancient History?"

Amused, he replied as they reached the lounge and sat down together on the couch, "Oh yes... he got to liking it when he actually sat down and read one of the books I gave him... it was that or Politics but he was fed up with the Goa'uld..."

She bit back laughter that bubbled up in her throat as he draped a blanket over them both, remarking, "_That_ I would pay to see. He'd just lock warring delegates in rooms..."

"Oh God, I remember the original Jack doing that... I miss him."

Her gaze fell, her smile faded as she said quietly, "Me too."

Worried, he put her mug on the coffee table next to his and held her close as she tried hard to compose herself and then failed. She wept in his embrace and he had tears brimming in his own eyes as he whispered,

"It's ok Sam..."

"I wasted those years with him."

"My God Sam, of course you didn't... you were both happy and that surely isn't a waste."

She buried her face in his shoulder, replying as he kissed the top of her head, "It was something that I was hoping for, on-and-off, for years, and then when it happened, it was a big let-down. He's a sweet guy, but... he's still Jack and always will be."

"Let me guess... he didn't want children."

She closed her eyes as she remembered countless killed off discussions on the topic with Jack, and he ran his fingers through her hair whispering as he looked sad, "He's been hurt so much, Sam... If I'd seen _half_ the things that he has seen, I'd be in a padded room long before now... He's just got a different way of handling things."

She sniffed after a moment, saying as she made to straighten up, embarrassed, "God, I feel like such an emotional idiot... I'm sorry for crying all over you."

He smiled as he tucked her hair behind her ear, replying, "You are far from being an idiot Sam, believe me... And you shouldn't be ashamed of your emotions – they're a large part of who you are."

He gently kissed her forehead and she smiled as she rested her head on his chest once again, the two of them enjoying the soothing silence and the close proximity of each other's bodies. She stretched up to kiss him, the kiss getting a little out of hand until he gently stopped her before he would do something that she'd hate him for later. She, finding herself on top of him as he lay back on the couch, looked down at him and said, smiling as she caressed his jaw,

"I'm glad we're friends again."

She gently kissed his cheek and he remarked, bemused, "When were we ever _not_ friends, Sam?"

Her smile faded as she gazed down at him, saying softly, "We've had our ups and downs, but these past couple of years haven't been good to us... I missed you. Now that I'm not blind, or as blind as before, I realise why you at least avoided me... unfortunately, there's no excuse for me avoiding you... Does fear count as one?"

He reached up to smooth the side of her face as he said gently, "I suppose it could although it depends what you were scared of."

"Loving you, as corny as that sounds... I was scared because I didn't know how you felt."

"Likewise."

They continued gazing at each other for a few moments more until she broke the eye contact first, saying as her eyes drifted to his chest, "Daniel... does the fact that you're not pushing me up against walls and dishing out insults mean that you're staying?"

Tears involuntarily welling in both of their eyes, he replied, "Yes... although about that wall thing..."

She suddenly smiled, remarking, "Oh you."

She rested her head on his chest just as they both heard the sound of key in the lock... they froze, staring at each other, she asking, "Daniel?"

"Um... I think that's Jack... uh, the other one."

"Oh right..."

Daniel sat up, Sam still on him somewhat as they looked over the back of the couch into the hall to see mini-Jack shucking off his wet jacket, remarking under his breath, "Rain these days..."

Sam said, smiling slightly, "Hi Jack."

Mini-Jack's head whipped around on hearing her voice and he remarked, eventually smiling, "Ah, thought so..."

Daniel rolled his eyes and said, "Jack, what the hell are you doing here?"

Mini-Jack retorted, "_Nowhere_ in that brief conversation did you mention that you were _fine._ That worries me, but I can see I was wrong for once..."


	19. The Morning After

Sam was the first to wake the next morning, and she found herself, much to her own surprise, laid on top of a certain Archaeologist, said Archaeologist sleeping soundly, his glasses still on the coffee table, his arms around her. As she recalled the events of the previous night, she smiled slightly and then took to watching him as he slept. She noticed that, like Jack, he looked younger in that peaceful state, his usual lines having faded for the period until he awoke. This was a face that had seen the most horrific of things, and she silently promised that she never wanted to cause him pain again.

She sighed as she thought of Jack, wondering how he would take this latest development. His younger self had taken it very well, even going so far as to grin at them, but the original O'Neill was a different person, especially since they had had their relationship. She, trying not to wake him, rested her head on his chest again as she felt more and more sad, worried that Jack could do something irrational or that his and Daniel's long-standing albeit deeply rooted friendship would be blown to smithereens. She didn't want that to happen.

Daniel, sensing the movement, stirred and shifted in his sleep, when he paused, uncertain as he felt something that he hadn't for a long time – there was someone in his arms. His mind sleep-fogged, he hoped that it wasn't some crazy Goa'uld with a crush/vendetta on him (like there really was a difference between the two in the Goa'uld mindset) as he discreetly opened one eye. What he saw surprised him… and then the memories came back. He smiled drowsily and gently rubbed her arm to check if she was awake or not.

Apparently she had been.

She looked up at him and smiled, saying, "'morning."

"'morning… It's not often that I wake up with strange women in my bed, I'll admit…"

Amused and a touch embarrassed, she remarked, "Well buster, seeing as we're on your couch, that little chat-up line just fell on its face."

"What can I say, it's early."

Still holding her with his right arm, he stretched his left arm and checked his wristwatch. He murmured in surprise, "Hmm, eight o'clock…"

She raised an eyebrow at him, certain that it would sink in eventually, and when it did, she laughed as he sat up quickly, apologising for the sudden movement before saying, "We've got an hour to get to work!"

"Relax Daniel, I'll bum a lift off you."

"As if that was in question… Okie dokey, you've got the shower, I'll get the coffee ready and…"

She silenced him with a kiss, intending to stop him worrying, and he didn't have the heart to continue his panicking as he kissed her back. Breathless as they parted, she held him tighter and said, her voice muffled against his shoulder as he stroked her hair,

"Oh, I wish we could just hang for the rest of the day."

He kissed her forehead, replying with a little smile, "That would be a lot of fun. We haven't hung out for ages."

Kissing him on the cheek, she sat up with him, following suit, and she asked, looking around the lounge in confusion, "When did mini-Jack go?"

Smiling at her name for their cloned friend, he replied, stretching a bent arm behind his shoulders, "Oh… he went after a couple of hours of raising his eyebrows and innuendos a-plenty. You fell asleep before he went."

"Figures… it was nice seeing him again."

--------------------

Having showered and changed back into her own clothes, Sam came downstairs to find Daniel sipping from a mug, handing her another one which she accepted gratefully. She glanced at her watch and said, "We've only got forty minutes, and it's a twenty minute drive, which means that you only have twenty minutes to get out of the house… And that's not counting any delays we could encounter on the way."

He rolled his eyes, amused nonetheless and remarked as he set his mug down, "This is what I get for hanging around with Astrophysicists…"

She smiled at him, raising her eyebrows briefly as he left and he remarked, "You'll see that I work pretty fast when I have to."

Intrigued, she called as he climbed the stairs, "Oh?"

"Tsk, tsk Sam, trade secrets."

She chuckled into her coffee before walking around his kitchen, noting how tidy it was. She walked to the window overlooking his backyard and noticed much to her amusement one of his female neighbours feigning casualness as she glanced at the window with all the discreetness of an elephant before proceeding to do toe touches with her back to the aforementioned window. Sam pressed her lips together to prevent herself from laughing out loud but she ended up erupting into giggles as she thought of her new boyfriend's apparent obliviousness when it came to female attention.

While she chuckled intermittently, stepping away from the window for her own welfare, Daniel reappeared, freshly showered and dressed, and asked, bemused, "Sam?"

Gasping for breath as she fought with herself, she said, pointing to the window, "I think your neighbour's hitting on you."

He looked at her oddly before looking out of the window. He returned his attention to Sam and said, his eyebrows raised, "Ok… my neighbour doing toe-touches is setting you off… I've got to send that coffee off for testing."

Bemused, Sam remarked, "You don't get it do you? She actually checked the window first and probably saw only a shadow so naturally assumed it was you… Oh boy, after twelve years, you're still oblivious to female attention..."

"Female attention?... Ok, I'm not going to argue with you before the coffee's been analysed."

She rolled her eyes and then said, "Fine. So… how did you get ready so quick?"

He remarked with a smile, "One of the things I picked up from working with Air Force speed-freaks…"

Laughing, she playfully hit him before saying soberly after a thoughtful pause, "You're as good as any other Air Force officer… obviously without the flying experience but who needs that when you get to do the things that you do?"

Embarrassed, he looked down at his feet briefly and she smiled as she wrapped her arms around him, and she said, "Come on Daniel, let's get to work."


	20. The Altercation

_The bit with Walter knowing where to stand is an homage to Aislara's 'What Might Have Been, What Could Be', which is essential reading (the link to the author is in my favourite authors list – how nifty is that?)._

_--------------------_

Arriving at work and earning odd looks from their colleagues at the mountain, Sam and Daniel exchanged a couple of glances before jointly deciding to go to Landry's office straight off so as to beat most of the rumours that must be flying around about them. As they made their way to the briefing room, through which they had to walk to reach the General's office, Daniel whispered to Sam as they watched a bunch of Nurses glance furtively at them as they whispered amongst themselves,

"Sam… If any of us have to quit the team, I'll do it… you need it more than I do."

She made to object but stopped short as they both sighted Jack coming towards them, the Major-General having left the briefing room. They exchanged a glance just as a group of SGC personnel gathered around the three of them at a safe distance, knowing that something of great interest had the highest possibility of happening then and there.

They both forced smiles on their faces despite being scared for their lives, and Daniel said, "Hi Jack."

Sam said in greeting with a little nod, "Jack."

Jack rounded on her with a brief raise of his eyebrows as he said, "Excuse me? I'm your superior officer."

Sam closed her eyes briefly, clenching her jaw at having their respective ranks thrown in her face and her face fell. Daniel glanced worriedly at her as Jack asked with strained casualness,

"So… where are you off to?"

Sam, angry, grabbed Daniel's hand and not caring that Jack was choosing to ignore her, said through gritted teeth, her eyes flashing, "_We_ are going to see General Landry to report a change in our relationship."

Daniel glanced at Sam and then at Jack whose eyes were focussed on their hands as though he could bore straight through them. And that was when he snapped. He remarked heatedly, again ignoring Sam and directing his fiery oratory and invective towards his one-time best friend,

"So… remind me again how long ago you got any action, Daniel? You really couldn't help it, could you, all those years of holding it inside…"

Sam, shocked, stared at the General as Daniel, forcing his anger down, said cautiously, "Jack, I think you had better go and cool off… you're not thinking straight."

"Oh, I've never thought straighter in my life, Dannyboy! I know exactly what's going on here – you really couldn't help yourself, and a woman like Sam is too nice to stop you so you…"

Sam was getting ready to kick him hard when Daniel shot back, disgusted, "Jack! I'm not having you talking like that in front of Sam, so I suggest you stop it."

Raising his eyebrows, Jack remarked scornfully, "What are you going to do? Huh? Despite you buffing up these past few years, you haven't got the courage to do anything to me… you have to get drugged up and engaged to some weirdo for you to even come close… No wonder Hathor got her way with you – you let her."

As Daniel struggled with his self-control, fighting the urge to floor his friend, Sam, having heard way more than enough, let go of Daniel's hand and punched the General hard, flooring him, his body actually sliding back on the floor from the fierce impact. An odd silence hung in the air as he looked up at Sam, his eyes unshuttered briefly, their now larger audience too stunned by what had just happened to even move a muscle let alone help the downed man up. Sam, grabbing Daniel's hand again, purposefully said aloud as the two of them walked straight past the now seated General,

"Come on Daniel, let's go see the General to tell him about the change in SG-1's dynamic."

As they walked through the crowd, Daniel, stunned as the rest, whispered, "Sam?"

She whispered back as she glanced at him, reaching the threshold of the briefing room, "I couldn't have him doing that to you Daniel… You would have let him do it too."

He squeezed her had in gratitude just as they heard Landry call from behind them, sounding bemused, "Ok you two, do either of you want to explain why my lovely daughter is treating the Head of Homeworld Security for a bruised jaw?"

Sam and Daniel turned around, discreetly letting go of each other's hands as they sighted a confused Cam, Vala and Teal'c behind the General, and the Archaeologist said, glancing at his new girlfriend, "General Landry Sir, we'd like to announce a change in our relationship… a pretty big one."

Inwardly remarking that it was about time, Landry raised his eyebrows at them as Cam and Vala silently cheered behind him before looking all innocent when he abruptly turned around, Teal'c smiling all the while. The General then gestured towards his office with a brief incline of his head as he said gruffly,

"Right, in my office alone."

Teal'c patted the two of them for good luck as they followed the General like lambs to the slaughter, and when the door had closed, Cam remarked, grinning as he hi-fived Teal'c and Vala, "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Indeed."

Vala remarked with an amused expression, "You know, our Muscles always has a word for every occasion… I'll go with the one for this occasion."

Teal'c smiled slightly at her, inclining his head graciously, and the team then waited albeit impatiently for their friends, leaning across a chair or the table, or nothing in Teal'c's case. They had been like that for a minute when Walter walked in, curious as to what he had heard and he, glancing at SG-1 and knowing what they needed to know, stood just out of the way near the window and said, reporting what he saw,

"General Landry's looking at them in disbelief… the Colonel's explaining something and Doctor Jackson's holding her hand. The General's smiling uneasily, and Doctor Jackson's explaining something… Oh, now the General's smiling and looks to be congratulating them…"

As SG-1 looked at him, bemused, Vala asked, intrigued, "How do you know where to stand, Sergeant?"

Walter, keeping an eye on the proceedings inside, grinned as he replied, "Practice, Ms Mal Doran."


	21. The Meeting in Sam's Lab

Emerging from Landry's office, both of them relieved and a lot less tense than they had been when they had entered, they walked together in silence until they reached the corridor where Daniel said softly, glancing at her, his arms folded across his chest,

"You know I would have done it."

She glanced back at him, smiling as she replied in the same volume, "I know you would have but if it meant that we couldn't be on the same team, I would have resigned…"

Not caring whether anyone saw, she leant over to kiss a surprised Archaeologist on the cheek, and he smiled at her, just as Bill and Jay, forgetting where they were going, stopped in shock, their mouths agape at the sight.

Following an instinct, Sam and Daniel walked to her lab where they were half-surprised by the presence of the rest of their team, Cam remarking with a grin, his arm around an equally beaming Vala as a more sober Teal'c smiled, inclining his head,

"Well, I think congratulations are in order here… don't ya, T?"

Teal'c replied, still smiling, "I do indeed… Congratulations ColonelCarter and DanielJackson."

Vala added, glancing admiringly at their tall, quiet friend, "Yes indeedy… Hey Muscles, you could try for 'indeedy'… It sounds… well, it sounds nice."

As the rest of the team looked on, amused, Daniel slipping a welcome arm around Sam's waist as she leaned into his embrace, Teal'c remarked, disgruntled, "That is not a word, ValaMalDoran, and I suspect that you wish to make me a part of an AshtonKutcher inspired prank which I will have no part of."

Everyone else exchanging discreet smiles, Cam remarked, "That would be fun, but this base is too small to have an angry Jaffa with a grudge on our tails, so it wouldn't be a good idea."

"Indeed."

Glaring briefly at their Jaffa friend, Cam returned his attention to Sam and Daniel, saying exuberantly, "So, judging by the Cheshire cat grins, am I right to say that Landry approves? He's not gonna break the band up that easily, and even if he wanted to, I'd give him hell to pay… so…"

He looked expectantly at the new arrivals as Sam sat down, the Astrophysicist smiling slightly as she glanced up at a standing Daniel and said, looking happier than anyone had ever seen her, "We can stay on the team… we had a long discussion about whether we could stay objective during combat situations where either of our lives were in danger. I don't think that it's going to much different from before, and Landry suggested something else, which we're completely happy for you guys to do… If…"

She pressed her lips together briefly before continuing as Daniel placed a supportive hand on her shoulder, reminding her of his presence, "… if it appears that we're having problems with being professional off-world, you guys have permission to pull us on it before reporting it to the General if it becomes a problem."

Cam glanced at Teal'c and Vala uneasily and then back at the scientists, saying with an intense expression, "You want us to tattle on you?"

Daniel sighed and said, "It's not _tattling_ per se… it's just anything that could negatively affect the outcome of a mission, or put anyone's life in danger."

"So like if you guys have a blazing row at home and bring it off-world."

Sam glanced up at Daniel, patting the hand that still rested on her shoulder as he replied with a shrug, "Something like that."

Vala rolled her eyes and remarked, "Well, I may have only been here a year less than Cameron here, but I know for sure that that's not going to happen – you, Samantha, worked with Jack for years despite all that… craziness."

Sam closed her eyes briefly, replying, "It wasn't that simple."

Daniel's hand fell from her shoulder as he said, "That reminds me… Jack's still on base and I've got to talk to him."

As his other friends looked at him as though he had a screw loose, Sam turned around quickly, standing up as she said, defiant, "No Daniel, no… he'll kill you."

He shook his head as he gazed at her and said, "If I don't do it now, he's going to keep on taking stupid pot shots at us. I need to clear the air between us."

Noticing her panicked expression, he added as he cradled her jaw tenderly, "I'll be fine, I promise."

"Like that's ever true… you always manage to find yourself in trouble…"

Mindful of their friends present, he gently kissed her cheek as she looked tearful, and he hugged her, saying so that only she could hear, "It's going to work out, Sam."

"Good luck, Daniel."


	22. The Other Face Off

Daniel made his way from Sam's lab to the Commissary, knowing that Jack would go there for the pie come hell or high water. As he walked, he wondered whether Jack would kill him for what he had apparently done. He knew that he wasn't in the wrong but in the General's irrational mind, he had done pretty bad.

As he approached the Commissary, he saw the General exchanging a few words with Reynolds. Daniel approached, and as the elder man turned, he noticed that he sported a pretty nasty bruise to his jaw courtesy of one angry Colonel. Jack, knowing that they were within earshot of the personnel in the Commissary who he had seen gradually edging their way to the doorway when they had sighted Daniel, said with forced casualness,

"Daniel."

Daniel, his pain at damaging his friendship with Jack visible in his eyes, said in reply, "Jack… we need to talk."

"Oh, I'll say that we did quite a bit of talking a couple of hours ago right before _she_ clocked me."

"Her name is Sam, and I'm sure you don't want this conversation in the corridor with half the SGC listening in and making podcasts. Come on, let's go to my office."

Jack silently walked with the Archaeologist, for once unsure of what his friend would do. He wasn't stupid – he knew that Daniel had had years of combat experience and had filled out and matured quite a bit in the past twelve years, whilst his abilities had begun to decline with age and lack of practice.

No words were said until they had reached the office, Daniel shutting the door as the General stood in the middle of the room, his shoulders rising and falling with barely controlled anger. Daniel, his back against the door, waited for his friend to speak and after a few moments, Jack did, turning to glare at him with barely disguised contempt.

"Daniel, I want to know why you thought it was ok to steal my girlfriend."

Daniel shot back in disbelief and confusion, "Sam broke up with you!"

"No she didn't. She was upset because of you pulling your little threatening to run stint… she didn't mean all those things she said. You really couldn't help yourself."

"Jack!"

Jack shook his head and said belligerently, keeping his fists under control by keeping his arms folded across his chest purposefully, "You stole Sam. I know you haven't had sex for, what, eleven years now but I wouldn't have pegged you as the type to steal someone else's girl, especially after Apophis screwed you over."

Daniel froze in shock. Jack had never thrown Sha're's abduction in his face before, and it hurt… not only the memories but also the knowledge that Jack was out to hurt him as much as he had been hurt. His anger growing, he said heatedly,

"Apophis stole my wife, putting one of those… _things_ in her that I'll curse 'til my last breath. I fail to see how this compares to that. She broke up with you, Jack. For God's sake, just take it like a man and stop throwing pot shots!"

"What did you do, seduce her? Sam's pretty damn strong but…"

Daniel, shocked, retorted in disbelief, "Jack! That is absolutely disgusting and an insult to Sam. For crying out loud, all she wanted was for you to show interest in her mind and not just her body. I didn't make you guys break up – Sam's been unhappy for a long time. You did this yourself, Jack. You kept her at arm's length because you didn't want to get hurt again, but did you ever think about her for one minute, how she would feel being underappreciated like that?"

Jack asked, his voice dangerously calm, "You did something, didn't you? What was it? Did you get her drunk? Did you blackmail her?"

"Jack?! What the hell has gotten into you!?! Why do you have to try to explain it so that _you_ don't look bad?!"

"Because you stole Sam, you son of a bitch. We were happy and you took that from me."

"_You_ were happy, Jack, and I suspect that you already knew it despite playing dumb."

As Jack continued to seethe, Daniel said with a sigh, glancing at the floor in front of him before looking at his friend and meaning every word, "I don't care about me, but you're hurting Sam and speaking as her friend, I won't let you. It's not my place to bring up all those years before you got together, but just apologise to her, ok? Tell her that you didn't mean…"

"Oh I meant every word. _You're _only in it for the sex, and _she_, the one woman whom I thought I could trust then went behind my back and wore out your bedsprings. I bet you enjoyed christening your house, you and that tramp..."

Daniel, his growing frustration reaching boiling point, slammed down the nearest object to hand, which just happened to be a large book on a nearby wooden shelf, the startling sound echoing in the now silent room. Jack stood there, scared of the Archaeologist for once, and Daniel yelled,

"Jack, you take that back right now! I don't care about all that other stuff but there is no way that I am going to stand here and listen to you badmouth Sam. "

Breathing a little more at his sudden burst of anger, he narrowed his eyes at Jack as the General just stood there for a few moments in a stunned silence. The older man then said wearily,

"Daniel…"

"Look, I'll forget all that crap you just said if you apologise to Sam for how you treated her."

Jack sighed and shot back, "I'm not going to forget what you did, Daniel. You stole my girlfriend. If I'd known that you were after Sam, I would have let you go to Atlantis."

"Jack, you would have lost her anyway!"

Jack remarked sarcastically, "Oh yeah, and you're so great… like the entire mountain revolves around you."

"Jack…"

Jack had heard enough. Within a split second, he was almost successful in landing a punch on the Archaeologist when said Academic, anticipating the move, stepped out of the way and wrenched the General's arm behind his back, slamming his face up against the wall with a ferocity that would have made Teal'c proud. Daniel remarked, disgusted,

"It's not the fact that Sam and I are together that's getting you riled up… You just think that you lost to someone who you don't see as a man. Quite frankly I am disgusted by your narrow-mindedness. Just because I can't handle alcohol or get into spontaneous fist fights… or enjoy acting as a soldier doesn't mean that I'm any less of a man than your average estimation."

Jack didn't say anything for a long moment, inwardly proud of the skills that his one-time best friend had learnt over the years as well as sorry for his behaviour. He then said quietly in defeat,

"You win Daniel. I'm sorry."

Still holding Jack against the wall, Daniel asked, "What about Sam?"

"I'll apologise to her."

"And are you going to accept that Sam and I are an item and leave us alone?"

Grudgingly, Jack acquiesced, grimacing in pain, and Daniel let him go, cautiously eyeing him up as he stepped away, hoping that Jack wasn't still in the rabbit-pulling game. Jack, rubbing his now sore muscles, muttered,

"Yeesh, that's gonna hurt for a while…"

His pain showing his eyes briefly before being shrouded by his natural emotional wall, Jack turned to Daniel and said, "Daniel…"

Daniel replied quietly, knowing that they had a lot of bridge-building to do between themselves, "I know, Jack… I want to be your friend again. I've missed you."

The two men hugged, and Jack whispered with a sigh, holding him tighter, "I'm sorry for being an ass to ya, Space Monkey… I never meant any of that crap that I said, and I am really sorry for throwing it in your face like that."

"I know… now you've got to apologise to Sam."


	23. The Apology

Daniel escorted Jack to Sam's lab, a distraught Astrophysicist practically throwing herself at the Archaeologist, not seeing Jack, and she said, frantically checking him over for injuries, "He didn't hurt you did he?"

Daniel whispered as Jack cleared his throat in embarrassment, the rest of SG-1 leaving after a series of cursory glances, "_He_ is right behind me."

Sam let go of him, embarrassed and scared as she looked past him to see an awkward looking Jack, who raised his eyebrows briefly at her. She glanced back at Daniel who silently let her know with his eyes everything that he felt for her, reassuring her. As tears welled in her eyes, he said gently,

"I'll be right outside, ok?"

She nodded, fearful and he quickly caressed her cheek before leaving, hoping that Jack didn't mess this up. When the Archaeologist had closed the door from the corridor, Sam quickly turned to look at the General and said, icily,

"So, what brings you here, General O'Neill?"

Wincing as he recalled 'laying down the law' earlier with her and already regretting it, he asked, "You love him, don't you?"

Tears once again in her eyes, she nodded, hugging herself and looking overwhelmed as she said quietly, "I do, Sir… God, I never meant for this to happen! I'm so sorry…"

He shook his head, smiling wistfully as he said, "No, don't apologise. Sam, I'll freely admit that I've been an ass, and I don't mean today… I pretty much took you for granted and was pretty damn selfish. If anyone should be sorry, it's me for not being able to keep you smiling."

Tears now coursing down her cheeks, she said, "I never wanted to hurt you, Sir…"

"Oh Sam, I brought this on myself… I never deserved you. I can't do better than you either."

Remembering her break-up with Pete, she shook her head and said depreciatingly, "Sir… that's not true."

"Now, now Sam, don't put yourself down… you and Daniel are good for each other. He's got half an idea of what you're talking about most of the time, and he's going to need someone to stay alive for so he doesn't stupidly risk his life again."

"Sir…"

"Hey, come on, _Sir_ makes me feel old… I seem to remember you calling me Jack for nearly three years."

Closing her eyes briefly, she said quietly, "I'm so sorry. I should have talked to you long before. I've hurt you because I left it so long."

"Just tell me one thing… Were you ever happy with me?"

Closing her eyes again, she nodded, replying, "I was, Jack."

Gently grazing her cheek with his knuckles as he gazed at her wistfully, he said, "Then I'm happy. Our time together wasn't all bad… Good luck with Dannyboy. You two are so alike sometimes that it's scary."

Looking at him, truly sorry, she asked, "Can we ever be friends, Jack?"

He exhaled sharply and replied, "I'm going to need a little time to get over this but I'll always be here for you."

She hugged him, crying harder as she said, "Thank you."

--------------------

Seeing Jack walk straight past him, his face emotionless, Daniel quickly went back into the lab to see Sam standing there, looking absolutely forlorn. Closing the door behind him, he quickly pulled her into his arms and kissed her hair as she whispered,

"I'm sorry."

Confused, he asked, "For what?"

"For being a blubberbox."

"Oh Sam, cry away – you need it."

"Thank you."


	24. The Clear Out

As they entered Sam's house, Daniel said, concerned, "Sam, are you sure?"

Closing the door behind them as they stood in the hall, Sam replied, "I am. Just go and take my coffeemaker hostage. I need to do this myself."

Gazing at her, he nodded and said gently, "I got it… but if you need any help, you know where I am."

She kissed him on the cheek, shucking her jacket off as she said, hanging it up, "I do. Thank you."

As he made his way to the kitchen with a lingering glance, she went upstairs with a cardboard box and sat on her bed, the box open next to her as she contemplated what she had to do.

After a moment of reflection, she began to place Jack's belongings that he kept at her house, in the box. When she had pulled a sweater out that she had given him a long time ago, she sat back down on the bed and sobbed uncontrollably as she held onto it.

Packing away Jack's presence and memories of the weekends and periods of leave that he had stayed with her, she recalled the good times with the General but willed herself not to cry, and was successful… until she entered the bathroom to remove his minimal toiletries.

Leaning in the doorway of said room, she closed her eyes and recalled in her mind's eye Jack humming cheerfully as he shaved, sometimes talking like the Irishman that he was at heart,

"_It's a sweet deal being on SG-1, I'm tellin' ya… there's the antagonising of the over the top bad guy, getting swept half the Universe away by skinny aliens with no asses, and watching Teal'c make friends. Those years were peachy."_

She smiled at the memory, whispering as she began to cry again, "Only you would take pride in antagonising the enemy, Jack."

She idly wondered as she retrieved the toiletries whether Jack had always hummed while he shaved or whether it was a result of how his relationship with her had changed him.

Making sure that she hadn't missed anything, she, following a whim, stripped her bed down, throwing the sheets in the laundry basket before making the bed again with fresh sheets. With one last glance around the room, she went downstairs, scouring the lounge and hallway for more of Jack's belongings before putting the now sealed box out of the way and going in search of her Archaeologist.

She found the man in the kitchen, his back to her as he looked out of the kitchen window, sipping from a mug, and she smiled slightly. Sensing her presence, he turned around and said softly,

"Hey."

She smiled before sitting down, drawn and weary, and he, worried, put a freshly poured mug of coffee in front of her, waiting patiently for her to start. She tentatively sipped from the mug, her hands shaking, much to his growing concern, and she finally said as she placed the mug down, massaging her temples with her fingers as she rested her elbows on the tabletop,

"It was hard."

He nodded, understanding and replied, "It won't be easy packing away nearly three years like that…"

Reaching over to place a hand over hers, he continued, "You didn't have to do it today though."

She shook head, smiling down at their hands, and she said, "I had to, Daniel… it's a personal thing."

Looking overwhelmed, she suddenly asked, "Do you want to go for a walk? I need to get out of here."


	25. The Park

Sam and Daniel walked through a nearby park, hand-in-hand, looking very happy as they enjoyed each other's company, and the ambient weather. They eventually stopped at a bench, where they sat together very intimately, and he, grinning, said affectionately,

"I don't think that I've ever enjoyed this park… or any park so much."

"Me neither, although… the last time I came here, it was seven years ago… with Orlin…"

She looked guilty on mentioning an old flame, and he kissed her on the cheek, whispering, "I'm fine, I really am."

Slipping her arms around his neck as she straddled the bench, she remarked with a grin, "I love you."

"And I love you, despite you scaring the hell out of me sometimes."

"Likewise."

As he wrapped his arms around her waist, she leant into him, brushing his lips with hers as she whispered, "No more secrets?"

Smiling, he kissed her quickly on the lips, whispering back, "No more secrets."

She kissed him, this time deepening it as she held onto him tighter, neither really caring about their surroundings, which included many parents who looked at them in annoyance, pulling their children in the opposite direction, as a few other people smiled knowingly.

He pulled back first, whispering as he glanced past her, "I think we should stop now before we get thrown out…"

"I don't care."

"Oh, that's the woman I fell in love with."

He gently kissed her, the kiss a lot tamer and polite than previously before all innocence flew out of the metaphorical window as his lips trailed down her throat quickly and efficiently, all the while aware of their passing audience. When he had finished, she held onto him tighter, resting her head on his shoulder, amazed.

"I love how it's Earth-shattering when we kiss."

"Me too, Sam… I've never felt that before…ever."

She didn't say anything, processing why she had never felt like this before, and he gently ran his fingers through her hair, truly happy for once, his heart feeling as though a lifetime of frost had defrosted.


	26. The Offer to Cook

Returning to Sam's house after spending the day together, she asked him as they took their jackets off in the hallway, "So… takeout?"

He raised his eyebrows at her, mirth just beneath the surface, and he asked, now innocent, "How about if I cook?"

Surprised, she raised an eyebrow as she asked, scepticism evident in her voice as they walked through the lounge and into the kitchen, "You know how to cook?"

He rolled his eyes, smiling, and remarked, "I haven't poisoned myself."

She rolled her eyes in reply, retorting with a faint smile as she remembered his many deaths and close-calls, "Yet."

They gazed at each other for a moment before he tenderly kissed her on the cheek and said, his love for her evident in his eyes, "Go on and relax in the lounge, and I'll do my thing."

Amused, she remarked, "No, you've got my curiosity piqued now… If I leave, I could be short of a kitchen by tonight."

He sarcastically retorted, amused, "Your faith in me is exceptional."

She looked at him in disbelief, seeing right through his sarcasm and he smiled at her, feigning innocence. Smiling, she glanced down at her feet before saying,

"Before you go and wow me with your culinary skills…"

She kissed him, pressing him up against the door frame as he froze in surprise for a couple of seconds before reciprocating as he drew her closer to him. When their need for oxygen became most pressing, they parted, breathless, and he remarked, smiling as he adjusted his glasses and glad for all that he was worth that his shirt _hadn't_ been tucked into his jeans,

"Is this a wow for wow thing? If it is, I don't think my cooking is _that_ good. You're going to be disappointed."

Wrapping her arms around his waist, she said as she kissed his neck, "I could never be disappointed with you, trust me."

--------------------

After laughing as Daniel whined copiously at the distinct lack of legitimate foodstuffs in her cupboards and fridge, Sam was stunned into silence as he managed to pull a MacGyver, skilfully putting together a tasty and satisfying meal whose construction alone wowed her.

"Ok Daniel, you must have snuck in something."

He shook his head and said, amused as he put the food on plates, "Nope, you just didn't know what you had, although you seriously need to consider a shopping trip."

As he placed the plates on the table, she replied, sniffing her plate appreciatively, "It's been a couple of days since we got back from that mission… Mmm, this smells wonderful."

He blushed slightly as he sat opposite her, murmuring in thanks as they dug in, and she remarked, amazed after swallowing her first bite, "Oh my God Daniel, where did you learn to cook? This is amazing… Wow, I've known you for twelve years and I never knew…"

He ducked his head in embarrassment and replied with a shrug, "Here and there."

She reached over to place a hand over his as she said, concerned yet smiling, "It's lovely, Daniel. Thank you."

He smiled at her, turning his hand over to hold hers and replied, "I'm glad that you like it."

Wanting to change the subject, he asked as she moved her hand away and they resumed eating, "So… when are you going to the mountain?"

Her smile faded as she remembered her purpose for returning as well as the cardboard box in the hall, and she sighed, saying, "I thought I might as well do it after dinner… I can't put it off."

Touched by her sadness, he said, "I can drive you."

She made to object but he continued, "Well, I've got to check my in-tray anyway so it'll be crazy going in two cars."

"Thank you."


	27. The Box

At the mountain later that evening, the box next to them on Daniel's desk in his office, the Archaeologist, perched on the edge of said desk, looked at his now upset girlfriend and said, "You can always do it another day, Sam. I don't know why you want to do it so soon – you're not comfortable with it."

Sam shook her head and replied, hugging herself as she bit her lip, "I can't. It's never going to get easier. I feel bad for not telling him before that I wasn't happy… and I don't think that that's going to go away anytime soon. And plus… it's not fair on you if I hold back or…"

Dismayed, he said, worried as he straightened up and stood in front of her, caressing her cheek as she lowered her gaze, "No Sam… I… Look, I know… I understand, and I'm happy to take it slow. I could keep a Shrink busy for years with my stuff."

She smiled slightly as she met his gaze and he gently kissed her, wrapping his arms around her. She rested her head on his shoulder and whispered, kissing his neck,

"That's if you agree to see a Shrink in the first place."

"Yeah, well, you know me."

"I'm glad I do."

She straightened up and met his gaze once again, and he asked as he reached up to smooth her hair, "I'll drive you home if you want… you could give Jack the box another day. He doesn't leave for D.C. until Wednesday."

She shook her head and replied, her features set with determination although her eyes alone partially belied it, "I have to do it. I'll be fine, I promise."

"Just so long as you don't feel pressurised into doing it so soon."

"I'll be ok, Daniel."

She gently brushed his lips with hers, whispering, "I'll be back in thirty minutes."

She pulled away to get the box when he pulled her back to him, and kissed her a little more intimately, whispering as their foreheads rested against each others, "And I'll be waiting."

Smiling, she kissed him quickly before stepping around him to get the box, and he caressed her cheek, saying, "If Jack plays up again, I'll have no doubt that you'll kick him where it hurts."

Raising an eyebrow in amusement, she remarked, "You do, do you? Well, I'll keep that in mind, Doc."

--------------------

Sam walked through the corridors of the SGC, heading for the VIP quarters where Jack was now staying. By the time she had reached his door, she felt like Swiss cheese after so many people had shot her and the box curious looks. She felt like telling them to mind their own business but reminded herself that she was in control of her own destiny, not them.

She reached Jack's door and, after balancing the box in the crook of one arm, was poised to knock when she heard the very man's voice from behind her remark, "You brought my National Geographics back?"

She turned in surprise as he stepped around her to unlock the door, entering his quarters and flicking the lights on. She stayed in the doorway as she said,

"I brought you stuff, Jack."

He remarked, "Sam, I don't bite… and even if I did, you'd kick my ass from here to Atlantis. Come on in."

She hesitantly entered the room as he closed the door behind her, and he took the box from her, placing it at the end of his bed. She closed her eyes, exhaling a shuddering breath as she said sadly,

"Jack… this isn't how I wanted things to end between us."

He replied, inwardly sad as he knew that he had lost the privilege to touch or hold her like he once had, or kiss her, "Sam, no apologising. I meant what I said earlier. It's my fault – I can spot the slightest of details off world, but I never knew I was losing you until I lost you."

Tears welled in her eyes as her gaze dropped, and she said, "It wasn't all your fault… I should have been able to tell you."

Touching her jaw to bring her head back up, he remarked, sadness showing in his eyes as he let his wall down for her, "Hey, no crying, you'll set me off."

She smiled briefly, and he continued with a sigh, "I've been a fool, and I kinda brought this on myself… I saw you last night with Daniel walking down the west road. I know… I know I should have stopped but I was just… And then it hit me how happy you were… how happy you both were, and I know something good when I see it."

She cried some more, and he gently said, "Hey, hey."

"I'm so sorry Jack. I really do wish that I was in love with you – you're a good man."

He remarked, the faintest of smiles on his face, "Oh, pish posh, that's gotta be one widest definition of the word 'good' I've ever heard. I distinctly remember saying before the Ne'tu mission that I was going to check out the neighbourhood."

She chuckled through her tears, and he continued soberly, "You're a wonderful woman who deserves so much more than I could possibly give you, and I wish I hadn't been too blind to see that."

"Jack…"

"No Sam, don't… I was stupid and a whole lot of other bad words."

They gazed at each for a long moment, the General wistful for all the things that could have been, the Colonel upset at hurting him. He said, gazing at her fondly,

"I'll always be here for you, Sam… We both know that he won't mess you around but if he dies on you, I've got a free 'Kick the smart-ass Space Monkey Archaeologist's ass for Free' card that I'll gladly use."

Smiling again, she gently kissed him on the cheek and hugged him, saying, "Thanks Jack."

With a lingering glance, she made to leave when he remarked, making her laugh, "Make sure to tuck him in with a mug of Cocoa."


	28. The Office and the Drive Home

Returning from Jack's quarters, her chest feeling much lighter than it had earlier, she poked her head into Daniel's office and smiled on seeing the Archaeologist engrossed in his work. She quietly entered and took a seat across the desk from him and just watched him, amused.

Nearly a full minute later, he looked up, startled and asked, checking his watch, "Sam? When did you come back?"

She remarked, feigning innocence, "Ohhh… about two hours ago…"

He momentarily looked panicked and then retorted in disbelief, "We were at your house two hours ago!"

She continued smiling, and said, ducking her head briefly, "Actually, a couple of minutes. It was just nice seeing you so lost."

Blushing slightly, he asked, "How did it go?"

Her expression warmed up a little as she replied, "It went good… better than I had expected… And apparently, I've got to tuck you in with a mug of Cocoa."

He raised his eyebrows in disbelief, and said, "What?!"

"Yep, Jack's sense of humour… I think you'll always be a kid to him one way or the other."

He rested his elbows on the desk as he replied with a wistful expression, "All those years, it was supposed be Charlie he was having battles with, and if Jack's anything to go by, I'm sure the boy would have given him hell."

She nodded, sad and replied, "He would have made a great father."

"Yeah."

Nothing was said for a few moments as they reflected on their friends' eternal grief, and then she said, changing the subject and sounding upbeat, "So, ready to be sprung?"

"Oh yeah, this can wait."

She remarked, amused as she got up and perched on his side of the desk, facing him, "That's not the man I know who'd stay long into the night and early morning to get his work done."

He smiled up at her before getting up and kissing her, holding her close. He then said, "I've changed a lot."

He kissed her again and asked, "So… can this lunatic drive you home?"

---------------------

As Daniel pulled up in front of her house, Sam in the passenger seat and now looking tense as she eyed her house, he gazed at her, knowing why she was so. She turned to him and said, looking sheepish,

"Daniel… I don't think it'll be a good idea for you to come in. As much of a cliché this might sound, it's not you, it's me… or rather the fact that my last relationship didn't turn out well because I rushed into it headfirst."

He nodded and said as he caressed her jaw, "I understand – you need space, and for us to take it slowly. I'll let you set the pace but I don't want you to feel pressurised into anything – just take it under your own steam."

Tears had sprung in her eyes during his speech, and she bit her lip before saying, smiling through her oncoming tears, "God, that's why I love you."

His cheeks tinged the faintest shade of red at her heartfelt praise, and she smiled. He may have seen and done so much since they had met, scaled seemingly insurmountable odds, and had developed so much personally but he was still, and always would be that shy, insecure man who could nonetheless surprise anyone with his nerves of steel, strength of character, towering intellect, and unshakeable sense of right and wrong.

Still smiling, she looked down at her lap briefly before saying as she looked back at him, "I think we could get away with a kiss goodnight."

"Now,_ that _I can do."

She raised an eyebrow at him, and he rolled his eyes, reddening again as he remarked, "Sam, I'm not a eunuch."

She chuckled softly before their lips grew closer and she initiated the kiss as he let her take control. Almost rolling her eyes, she gently reached behind him to caress his neck, which sent delicious tingles down his spine and he took the hint.

They each pulled back a good couple of minutes later, feeling utterly boneless, their eyes glazed over. She exhaled a long breath and remarked with all seriousness,

"We've only kissed a handful of times but _that_ has, by far, got to be the best."

He nodded in agreement, barely able to speak, and she really looked at him, noticing much to her inner astonishment that his eyes were only partially shrouded by his perpetual emotional wall. With a soft smile on his face, he remarked,

"Encore?"

She grinned and retorted, "Like you had to ask."

After another earthshaking kiss, he pulled away first as they had almost reached the point of no return… in his car. Not ideal especially for a first time with someone he had been holding out for, for so long. As it was, he wasn't entirely sure that he could get out without embarrassing himself in front of her at the very least. He remarked, his cheeks a soft rosy red as he smiled, stroking her cheek,

"If we go any further, we'll lower the house prices around here."

"That could be a good thing."

She kissed him, this time a quick although certainly not unenjoyable one for either for them, and she said as they hugged, "I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight Daniel."

He returned the kiss and replied, feeling utterly happy as he rested his forehead against hers, "Goodnight Sam."

They kissed one more time and then she found enough willpower to open the door and he gazed at her, totally and truly amazed that she returned even a fraction of his own feelings. She got out and asked, stooping so that she could look at him, her hands rested on his roof,

"Who's calling who?"

His smile grew wider as he replied, "I guess I'll have to be the gentleman this time."

"That's going to be interesting – you're always a gentleman."

He ducked his head briefly and she smiled, saying before closing the door, "'night Daniel."

"'night."

She walked up the front path and turned on reaching the front door to see him still there, waiting for her to get in safely, and she smiled at his thoughtfulness. Unlocking the door and switching the hall light on, she turned to wave at him. With a reciprocal wave, he drove away. Smiling, she turned back into the house and closed the door when suddenly the prospect of being alone, especially after a wonderful day with her new boyfriend, was the complete opposite of promising.

Closing her eyes, she slid her back down the door until she was seated on the floor, and she held her head in her hands as she began to cry.


	29. The Night Apart

Daniel returned to his house and much to his relief, didn't find mini-Jack. He liked the young man – he really did, but tonight, he needed some time alone to think as it was more than somewhat obvious that he wasn't going to be able to sleep. The last thing he needed was for the younger man to use that infamous O'Neill wit and repartee to try and get answers out of him.

Stripped down to his boxers, he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about his relationship with Sam. Early as it was, almost in the third day to be precise, he knew that there would be no-one else. Spending more time with her had reminded him of why he had fallen in love with her, and for the first time in decades, he felt completely and utterly happy.

He thought to himself that this was how the other Daniel must have felt just being so close to the woman of his dreams on a daily basis, to share her life and everything else, to wake up next to her.

He abruptly changed the subject in an attempt to circumvent his growing discomfort, and he thought of how he and Jack could repair their friendship after everything that had happened. It didn't last long and he rushed out of his room and into the shower so that he could relax during the inevitable as he let his mind wander.

--------------------

Sam couldn't sleep either as she lay in her bed, the sheets pulled around her as she thought of him, wondering whether she had made a huge mistake by not letting him come in, even if only to sleep in the spare room. She smiled as she closed her eyes and let herself do what she had forced herself _not_ to do all day – imagine what he would feel like.

Still imagining the part where he drove her wild with his tongue, an ability she was sure he possessed after their experiments in bordering indecency in public earlier that day, she groaned in frustration when the ringing of the phone interrupted her little fantasy. She reached over and grabbed the handset, saying into it,

"You really better not be a telemarketer."

She flushed when she heard none other than Daniel's voice remark, "Judging by the way you sound, I'm glad I'm not… I value my manhood."

Running her fingers through her hair as she remembered him agreeing to ring her, she said, embarrassed as she sat up, "Sorry! Never mind…"

He chuckled and then asked, concerned, "What's up?"

Not really wanting to tell him what she was doing, she replied with feigned casualness, "Oh… just reading – I guess I got lost."

Sounding intrigued, he asked, "What is it?"

Thinking on her feet, she replied, glancing at her bookshelf, "Divine Secrets of the Yah Yah Sisterhood… you've probably never heard of it."

There was a pause in which she smiled in amusement, and he said, "Hm, I've heard of the title but never read it."

"Oh, you'll love it! It's about mothers, daughters, forgiveness and the power of female friendship. It's surprisingly good. I'll lend you mine one day."

"Thanks, although it does sound corny."

She laughed, saying, "It does. One of the characters reminds me a lot of you though."

"Oh God Sam, don't tell me it's a woman…"

She laughed out loud, "No!"

"… or a daughter or…"

"Oh my God. No… the lead character's fiancé. He's got blue eyes."

She smiled when she instinctively knew that he was blushing, and she added, partially to embarrass him as she lay down on her side, "You've got nice eyes."

"Sam…"

"No, you really do… that's one of the first things I noticed when we first met."

He sighed and said, "One of the first things I noticed about you was your passion…"

He chuckled and continued, "You were just so… gleeful for lack of a better term on seeing that DHD."

She blushed and remarked, amused yet mindful that they could be listened in on, "Well, you know how much it took for us to replicate that."

"Ah yeah. It would take a long time to redo it too."

"Yep."

They simultaneously sighed, and she fought the urge to tell him that she would rather have him by her side. Instead, she said,

"What have you got to do tomorrow?"

"Oh, a few translations, and I'm going over a couple of, uh, field reports with Nyan. Hey, here's an idea…"

She laughed and remarked, her smile fading by the end of her impulsive remark, "You sound just like Jack… uh, sorry, I…"

"It's ok, Sam… you spent nearly three years with him – that time is a part of you."

She smiled again, and said, "What were you going to say?"

After a beat, he asked, with a dramatic flourish that had her biting her lip to keep herself from laughing out loud, "Colonel-Doctor Samantha Carter, will you allow me the honour of taking you out for a date whenever our respective schedules permit?"

She couldn't help it. She had to laugh, and she did. When she managed to speak, she said, still laughing intermittently,

"Oh God, sorry Daniel… I didn't mean to hurt you…"

"You didn't – I like hearing you laugh."

"Right… uh, it's just that that has got to be the, well, most thoughtful way I've been asked out. Don't let my laughter deceive you – I loved it… Ok, it was a bit much. Oh… and yes, Doctor Daniel Jackson, I accept your wonderful offer, and the honour's mine."

As she silently laughed, he, his voice light, replied with a chuckle, "Great! I'll see you tomorrow about the technical details."

"I can't wait."

"Are you having trouble sleeping too?"

Chewing her lip, she replied, twisting the truth, "Oh yeah… It's, uh, it's probably all the excitement catching up with me."

When he acquiesced a little too quickly, she idly wondered whether he shared her problem but she mentally shook herself, reminding herself that she wouldn't get anywhere if she scared him off.

"Yah, I was hoping to get a couple of hours in before I rang you because I wake up in the middle of the night sometimes, but _that_ didn't exactly work out."

Snorting with laughter, she remarked, "No it didn't."

She asked, curious, "How come you wake up after a couple of hours?"

"Ohhh… to tell the truth, I don't know but it's been happening since I came back from the, uh, Ascension Islands. It's an improvement though because after… after Sha're went, I had trouble sleeping full stop… It could be a legacy of that."

Feeling sad for all the pain he had been through, she said, "Yeah… Daniel, you know, if you want to talk about… well, anything, I want you to know that I'm here. I'm not Jack but, you know…"

He didn't say anything for a long moment, and when he did, he replied, his voice laced with emotion, "I'd like that very much. Thank you, Sam."

"Hey, we've got this reciprocal relationship thing going on… or at least, we've started it. You hear my insane ramblings, and…"

"You get to hear my rabidly insane ramblings?"

This had the effect of making her laugh, and she remarked, "Oh Daniel, you never were rabid or insane… Ok, I'll admit that you do ramble… Wait, no, you've been more succinct these past few years. I guess I'll miss the days when you felt relaxed enough to explain a theory to Jack at the speed of light."

He laughed quietly and replied with a sigh, "Well… things changed when Mitchell and then Vala came along. I know things are better now, but I changed during those years, and I don't think it was for the better. I did things that I would never have dreamt of doing before."

"Oh Daniel… I'll admit that you were scarily different but you do what you've always done – you adapt to your situation and circumstances. It's a legacy of your childhood and teen years."

"Yeah."

"And plus you didn't have Jack to spar with as much."

"I miss him."

She sighed and replied quietly, "Me too… as a Commanding Officer. He was the best."

"He was. We shared a lot of things too."

"Now, that's intriguing. Nearly three years and he never opened up as much as he did with you all those years ago. Even back when the project started, I never knew that he had a wife or a son until you told me."

He sighed, and said, "We bonded against all odds during that first mission, and then I lived with him after I came back. We got a lot of soul-bearing in – he needed it."

"You too."

Knowing that he would grudgingly, at best, admit that, she asked, "So… what time are you going in tomorrow?"

His voice immediately lightened as he replied, "Oh, about ten… We're on leave so there's nowhere to go unless someone gets into trouble."

"Agh, I hate being on conditional leave."

"Yes, it does have its downsides."

She laughed at his sarcasm, and he asked, "What about you?"

"Um, I'm going in at eight… I was going to go in at two but Bill needs a little help."

"He always needs help."

She snickered, and he said, "Well, I better turn in. I mean, I'd love to spend the night talking to you, but we could both get into trouble."

"Alas, we would. I just love this… we've never done this before. We've talked for ages on the phone, but nothing like this."

"Nope… this has been strangely therapeutic."

She chuckled, replying, "Same here. The insomnia doesn't seem so bad."

"Ditto."

"Well, I better let you sleep – mini-Jack's going to hunt me down if you suffer tomorrow."

"Ah, you could take him."

"Hm, I don't know… he's got better knees than Jack has, and all those years of combat experience. He'd wipe the floor with me."

"Now come on Sam, you beat Turghan… and Teal'c told me about you hitting Baal. You'll be the one wiping floors with that little tyke."

"Now, now Daniel, what kind of a friend are you, matching up your friend with your new girlfriend in a fight?"

He remarked teasingly, "Ah well, on second thought, it wouldn't be a good idea – you'd gloat for months."

"Hey!"

She continued, reluctantly as she chuckled softly, "Well, back on the vague topic, I'll let you sleep… Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Sam. I love you."

"Oh, I think I can safely say that I love you too… Goodnight."


	30. The Break, Lunch and Plans

After a phone call bordering on the sordid, the scientists went to work separately due to their different starting times and each worked on their various projects. Come lunchtime, as Nyan pointed out a particular feature in one of the reports that they were going through, Daniel found himself wondering what Sam was doing and whether she needed a break. He stretched, and discreetly glanced at his watch and then said to his alien colleague,

"Hey, I'm going to go check on, uh, Colonel Carter's progress with, uh…"

As he tried to find the words, Nyan, trying hard not to smirk, helped him out, suggesting, "The inscriptions on the device from 983?"

Daniel quickly pointed to him and said, relieved and a little too quickly to begin with, "Yes!... Uh, I mean, yes… she, uh, might want to go over the…"

Nyan grinned and remarked, waving dismissively as he watched Daniel stall again, "Go! I know you want to see Sam. You're a terrible liar, Doctor Jackson."

Daniel flashed him a sheepish grin as he almost sprinted from his office, calling, "Thanks!!!"

--------------------

As Sam tightened the screws on the device with one hand, the other typing in test results, she said to Bill, who was packing away several other devices, "How it uses trinium is remarkable indeed… We've used it for intergalactic space ships, but it acts as a power source using super heated fusion and…"

Just then Daniel appeared in the doorway with two mugs of coffee and her eyes happened to wander that way mid-techno babble. She paused and grinned, saying, "Daniel."

As Bill turned, somewhat stiffly, to acknowledge the Archaeologist's presence, Daniel asked, stepping into the lab and handing her a mug, "I'm not interrupting am I?"

"Oh no, we're pretty much done – just putting stuff away and typing up the results. Hang on a sec, I'll just finish this and we can do lunch."

Putting her mug down, she began typing furiously, her attention solely on her task as Daniel turned to Bill and asked, "Hey, you want anything?"

Glancing at Daniel's coffee, Bill shook his head and replied, "No thanks Daniel, I was on my way anyway… who's serving it up?"

Daniel replied with a smile, "Milton."

Bill's eyes suddenly glazed over as he smiled and said, "Great… I'll, uh, just…"

Sam waved distractedly saying, "Go ahead Bill, we're done here."

Bill practically ran out of the lab much to Daniel's amusement as he remarked, "He must really like the sludge."

Sam, having finished typing and going about putting her machine into standby mode, said with an amused grin, "That was cruel of you."

Feigning innocence, Daniel asked, "What?"

Closing up her laptop, she turned to face him, saying with an eyebrow raised in barely concealed amusement, "Sergeant Milton's on leave this week."

"So?"

"So... you knew that she's the only reason Bill would run from here."

"And I repeat my little question... so?"

She rolled her eyes and then asked, still amused, "Ready?"

He replied, "One minute, I've got to do something."

Looking at him in disbelief, she remarked, "It's my lab! You keep your work in your office! I mean... mmph..."

Kissing, he kicked the door closed behind him as he gently pushed her up against the adjacent wall, the Astrophysicist pulling him closer when she had got over her initial surprise. Panting softly, she, rather feebly, pushed him away and said, fully wanting to continue,

"Daniel, we could get in trouble with the General for not acting professionally whilst on duty."

He rested his forehead against hers and said, smiling slightly, "One more then... he won't know, and besides, we're going to have to behave ourselves in the Commissary."

Smiling, she sought his lips with her own and took the initiative, taking his breath away as she carefully turned them so that he had his back against the wall, and she continued to knock him for six, his glasses falling to the side unheard. He tentatively reached under her top, feeling the expanse of skin beneath but not feeling brave enough to go higher.

Meanwhile, one of her hands had reached behind his neck, caressing the tender spot that she had learnt was there, her other hand rather boldly reaching down to skirt the swell of his backside. He groaned softly before leaving her lips, trailing kisses down her throat as she threw her head back in sheer ecstasy, holding him in an almost vice-like grip.

She involuntarily ground her hips against his which had the effect of arousing him further, and considering their current situation, it wasn't ideal. He forced himself to stop, knowing that he at least would be in a lot of trouble if they didn't stop now, and he rested his head against her shoulder, and whispered as she ran her fingers through his hair,

"I think we better stop now before..."

His cheeks coloured, and she momentarily looked stunned. She then smiled and gently kissed him, replying, "I got it," before letting him go, knowing that he was getting highly embarrassed. They each straightened out their clothes and hair, and she asked, worried as he picked his glasses up,

"Are you ok?"

He blushed and replied with a short nod as he put his glasses back on, "Yep..."

She ducked her head briefly and said, her cheeks momentarily turning a rosy red, "If you... uh, want to recover, we can stay here a little longer. I don't want you being the centre of attention, or even more so out there."

To give him some space, she went about sorting her paperwork and he silently thanked her as he focussed hard on visualising anything that _wasn't_ the person who was in the same room as him. With a sheer force of will, he only partially managed to keep himself focussed on quietly reciting the Greek alphabet as she did her best not to look in his direction,

"Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, xi, omicron, pi, rho, sigma, tau, upsilon, phi, chi, psi, omega..."

And then the Arabic alphabet, "Alif, ba, ta, sa, jeem, ha, kha, dal, zal, ra, za, sin, shin, so'ad, do'ad, to'a, zo'a, ai'n, ga'in, fah, kaf, khaf, lam, meem, nun, wow, ha, hamza, ya..."

Shutting his eyes when that only partially worked, he began naming the Pharaohs of the First Dynasty, "Narma, Menes, Djer, Merneith, Djet, Den, Anedjib, Semerkhet, Qa'a..."

He glanced down and breathed a silent sigh of relief before turning around and saying, trying not to blush, "Hey, you want to go for lunch now?"

She turned around, surprised, and replied, smiling, "Sure. Let's go."

Just as they were about to leave, he surprised her by gently kissing her and whispering, "Thank you."

--------------------

Seated opposite each other in the Commissary with their lunch, Daniel asked her as he poked his mashed potato around his plate with his fork, "So... where do you want to go?"

Keeping an eye out for the Airwomen that had been trying to listen in on them while they were in line for their food earlier, she replied with a shrug as she returned her attention back to him, smiling softly, "I thought you were doing the gentleman thing."

"No, you've got me confused with a Chauvinist. We're both going on this thing so we both might as well have a say in it... what do you fancy?"

Amused at the way that he thought, she replied, resting her face in her open palm, "Hmm, something normal. We do crazy and different every other day... Just something that reminds us that we're from this planet. To be honest, I wouldn't mind some takeout. We can just be ourselves and talk like we used to."

Narrowing his eyes slightly as he thought about it, he said quietly, "You do have a point. When I took Vala out for dinner, it felt a bit formal and ritualised."

Her smile vanished and he frowned in confusion, asking, "What?"

Staring at him for a moment, she shook her head and whispered before returning her gaze to her plate, "Nothing."

Concerned now, he asked, "No it isn't. Sam, what is it?"

She levelled her gaze at him and said, "You took her out for a date."

He rolled his eyes and retorted quietly, "It wasn't a _date_. It was a dinner between friends and co-workers... And besides, you were taken..."

She placed a hand over his and said, closing her eyes briefly, "I'm sorry... I had no right to say that. It's just that it bugs me even more now to think of you with anyone else."

Smiling affectionately at her, he replied, "I guess I can say the same."

He continued, raising his eyebrows briefly, "So... takeout? It isn't exactly the romantic first date I had in mind."

She retorted with a grin, "Nothing more romantic than Chung's Dim Sum... Well, come on Daniel, how many times do we get to relax out of work? Now that the Ori are gone... we've got more of a chance to have a life."

"Fine, but at least let me take you properly one night. Fancy restaurant, the works."

She smiled and replied, "Sure. I'd like that a lot. So... your place or mine?"

He shrugged and remarked, "We could always toss a coin."

As she quietly laughed in disbelief and amusement, he reached into his pocket and flipped it. Concealing it under his hand, he asked, looking at her with mirthful meaningfulness,

"Heads or tails?"

"Fine, heads."

He lifted his hand and said as he showed her how the coin had landed, "Looks like it's your place."

"Great, seven?"

"Sure."

He opened his mouth to say something else when a certain Southern voice remarked from near them, "What are you guys up to?"

They looked up to see Cam, Teal'c and Vala with their trays, joining them without being asked, and Daniel glanced at Sam, who momentarily frowned before replying with a shrug, "Just talking."

As Teal'c smiled slightly, Cam glancing at him sceptically, Vala remarked, feigning innocence, "Oh, come on, you're two highly fit and active humans who've just got together and you're _just talking_. When Tomin and I got together, we were having sex within a day, which was just as well seeing as I happened to be carrying the galaxy's greatest threat. The timing was essential, and Ver Isca didn't have contraception..."

When Cam glared at her, the rest of the team looked embarrassed and then amused, she continued, looking at Cam, "Cameron, just because you haven't got further than, how you people say, making out doesn't mean that you're any less in my estimation... trust me."

As Sam and Teal'c exchanged odd glances with Daniel, Cam embarrassed, the Archaeologist remarked, shutting his eyes briefly and raising a hand, "Vala, that's enough... we've all got better things to do than to think of your sexual habits, believe me."

Teal'c added with a disgruntled expression as Sam grinned at him, "Indeed."

Cam, needing to change the subject, said, "Oh, hey, T, aren't you off to see Ish'ta later on?"

"I most certainly am, ColonelMitchell."

Daniel asked, shooting a discreet smile at Sam, "Hopefully you won't return in a bad mood this time."

Vala interjected, "Are you kidding? The only reason he gets in a bad mood these days is when he hasn't had any sex... that would make anyone crazy, and not in a good way..."

The rest of SG-1 exchanged guarded glances, and Sam remarked with a frown, "You surely must have noticed by now that we don't usually talk about sex."

"My dear Astrophysicist, that's why you need me to lighten up your day."

Daniel rolled his eyes and asked, looking at Cam and Vala, "Are you guys finally going on a date?"

As Vala grinned like the cat that got the cream, a red Cam replied, shooting her a look, "Yep, we're going on one tomorrow... What about you guys?"

Daniel exchanged a secretive smile with Sam, the Astrophysicist replying as Vala straightened up, intrigued, "Oh, we've got one too..."

Vala remarked, waving her hands, "Is that it?! You can't leave it at that! We have to know where you're going, and seeing as I'm having to live vicariously through you, what you'll be doing!"

Cam cleared his throat as the scientists involuntarily reddened, and Teal'c replied, "ValaMalDoran, it is a matter between ColonelCarter and DanielJackson..."

As they shot him appreciative looks, he continued with a raised eyebrow, "... however, I suspect that they will inform me first."

Cam guffawed as Vala pouted, and Sam and Daniel looked at each other and then at Teal'c in disbelief, the Jaffa feigning innocence as he casually popped a grape into his mouth.


	31. The Farewells

While Sam tidied up at her place in preparation for her upcoming date of sorts, the doorbell rang. She ran, tucking a cloth in the back pocket of her jeans, and opened the door to reveal none other than Jack waiting there. Surprised, she stood aside to let him in and said as he wandered through to the kitchen,

"Hi Jack... what brings you around here?"

After he had switched on the coffeemaker without thinking, he replied, turning around to face her, "Just thought I'd stop by to see you on my way out. Flight's this evening."

"Ah right, that must have slipped my mind. Sorry."

"It's ok... I'm only going back to D.C. to be worked halfway to death."

The coffee ready, he poured them both a mug before sitting down. She sat down opposite him, bemused, and he said, glancing around the kitchen, "I came to tell you that I'm sorry."

Frowning slightly, she replied, "You've already apologised... and if anyone should be apologising, it's me..."

He waved dismissively and said as he gazed at her sadly, "Sam, no, it was all my fault. You just felt like you had to stay with me after a certain point because of all the years we took to get to a place where we could... you know. You deserve so much better than me, you always have but you never give yourself enough credit. One day, I'm hoping that this is going to be water under the bridge and that we'll laugh... ok, hopefully not about us together, but you know..."

She smiled as she wrapped her fingers around the inviting warmth of her mug, and said as his insides twisted knowing that she'd never smile properly for him or do anything else for him like she had so many times before, "It'll happen, Jack. We'll be fine. All of us."

He nodded slightly, and she continued, "I'm not going to say that I want things as they were before because we're a lot closer now... Even though we're not an item, you've come here as a friend, which I appreciate. We don't have any of that _Sir-Carter_ formality even though you're my superior officer. One thing, however, that I would like to be as it was before is your friendship with Daniel. He needs you, and this has really strained the thing that you used to have. Go and see him."

He replied with a distant expression, "So much has happened these past few years and I haven't been there for him as much as I should have… it's sad one way that my clone's doing my job for me."

She placed a hand over his and said with a warm smile, "Go see him, he'll be happy to see you. He loves you."

When he raised an eyebrow, she rolled her eyes and continued, "Like a brother Jack… jeez."

--------------------

Later on, Jack knocked on Daniel's door and wasn't surprised to see mini-Jack on the other side, but he was surprised to discover that the Archaeologist was out. Mini-Jack shrugged and said,

"Our boy's cooking tonight."

"Oh?"

Mini-Jack remarked testily, "Not for me, grump ass. For Carter. He's been sweet on her for years."

Jack's gaze dropped and he said quietly, now standing in the lounge, "Ah… that."

Mini-Jack patted him on the shoulder consolingly and said, "Look at this way, now two people are happy. She's good for him."

"Yeah, I know."

From the kitchen doorway, mini-Jack asked, "Coffee?"

Jack, distracted, replied, "No, I just came from Sam's… I don't want to be up all night. Flight's at eight."

Mini-Jack paused and asked, surprised, "You're going back so soon?"

"Not much point in staying longer now…"

"Ah."

Mini-Jack exhaled and sat down next to his older self, patting him on the knee, and he said, "Look, Jack, you'll get over Carter, trust me. I did it years back. Now, of course, you're different 'cos you actually had a relationship with her, but think about it – would we have been able to keep her happy? I saw her for the first time since you abandoned me the night they got together and she was positively glowing, so much more than I remember doing so."

Jack made to object but mentally shook himself, knowing that the younger man was right, and he said, briefly squeezing his clone's hand, "Thanks…"

The two men exhaled simultaneously and just as mini-Jack opened his mouth to speak, Jack clapped his hands and said a little too brightly, "A good question to ask now is whether Dannyboy has any beer stashed away."

"I like the way you think."

"You should – we're the same person, apparently."

Mini-Jack remarked as they both stood and went to the kitchen, "Y'see, it's that _apparently_ that doesn't instil much confidence in me. Anyway, of course he has beer… and Guinness… what kind of person do you take me for?"

--------------------

When Daniel returned an hour later with a couple of bags, he found the two Jacks exchanging stories about past events, both of them sipping bottles of Guinness. The Archaeologist smiled to himself, glad not only that his friends were having fun, but also that the Guinness that mini-Jack had insisted on stocking his fridge with wouldn't go to waste.

As Daniel entered the lounge, the Jacks looked up, the younger smiling, and Daniel said, "Jack."

Mini-Jack glanced at Jack who replied a little stiffly, "Daniel."

Mini-Jack patted Jack on the shoulder and said, "Go on, you crazy lovebirds – go in the kitchen and make up before I find some way of getting Teal'c… by the way, does anyone have his number?"

Jack and Daniel stared at each other and then at mini-Jack, who shrugged and continued, "What can I say, I miss the big guy."

Daniel rolled his eyes and walked straight through to the kitchen to unpack his shopping. Jack eventually followed, shutting the door behind him. Daniel, holding the edge of the sink in anticipation, asked in a level voice,

"What do you want Jack?"

Jack, who was now leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded across his chest, remarked, "Now is that any way to treat an old friend? I just dropped in to say bye… I'm off back to D.C. at eight."

Daniel turned around, hurt in his eyes, and Jack continued, looking at his feet, unable to bear the pain that he saw, "Thought we could have a couple of last words and stuff… and you know."

Daniel stepped closer to him but not too close as he replied softly, "For one, I wouldn't mind being called Space Monkey again."

Jack, surprised, looked up, an eyebrow raised as he asked, "You liked that?"

Daniel shrugged and replied, "It's the best nickname I've ever had."

"Boy, we have got to get you a life."

"Seriously. I've been called 'geek', 'four-eyes', 'Dannyboy' and so on and so forth, but your nickname wasn't derogatory. Ok, it was kind of diminutive, but I liked it."

"Well, there's plenty more where that came from, Shovel-bum."

Daniel smiled slightly and replied, "That doesn't have the same ring to it, Jack."

"Well, how come I don't have a nickname?"

Daniel shrugged, and Jack continued, feigning annoyance, "I'm just as cool, if not more than you, Sam and Teal'c… ok, maybe not Teal'c, and I don't have one!"

"How about MacGyver?"

Jack raised his eyebrows and remarked sceptically, "MacGyver?"

"Uh-huh. In the early days you looked like how I imagined Richard Dean Anderson if he carried on doing MacGyver… obviously with shorter hair, and behaving as though you don't give a crap when in fact, you do."

Jack ran a hand through his cropped hair, remarking, "It only went grey 'cos of you."

"Get real Jack, you're ten years older than me."

"Smooth."

The two men looked at each other for a moment, and Jack said, his smile fading, "I'm sorry, Daniel… I didn't mean any of the things I said about letting you go. Even if the end of the world came and I was on my way down to see Satan, I would never let you go."

Daniel remarked, "It's a shame Hell's not my scene."

"Funny. Mind you, you'd probably get let back in to Oma-land and you'll drag Sam along too… and maybe T if he's still having trouble with Ish'ta."

"Jaaack!"

Daniel closed his eyes briefly and then surprised the older man by pulling him into a tight hug, which was returned with equal fervour. He whispered in the older man's ear,

"I'm sorry for what I said too. I know you don't think any less of me."

"Are you kidding. Once a pain in the ass, always a pain in the ass – I could _never_ think any less of you."

Daniel smiled, still holding onto Jack and he said, "I really am going to miss you, and I know Sam is too… and Teal'c."

Jack gently let him go as he said, "Daniel, you do realise that it's going to take me a while to get my head around you two being an item? I love you like a brother, and Sam… well, let's not get into that right now, but I wouldn't go expecting me to come along on little night outs for a long while yet."

Daniel nodded in understanding, replying, "I know Jack, and I know that we didn't have the best timing in the world either… but one day, we'd love to have you over."

"Pray tell me, whose house?"

Daniel closed his eyes briefly and said awkwardly, "Ah… we haven't reached that part yet… I'll let you know."

Jack smiled affectionately at him, ruffling his hair, and he said after a long pause, "It's great to see you finally having a life… and maybe with Sam to live for, you won't go dressing up as Priors or…"

"Jack, that's impossible. The Ori are gone."

"It's the principle, Daniel… Sam's going to kick your ass if you go sacrificing yourself for the greater good – she would have done it anyway but she has rights over you now. The greater good can go hang – we need you here."

Daniel smiled, a touch embarrassed as he murmured, "Thanks."

Looking around at the results of Daniel's little shopping trip, Jack clapped his hands and asked, "So… what did you get?"

Daniel's smile faded, not wanting to tell the older man the main reason why he had gone shopping, and he shrugged and said, waving briefly in the direction of the bags, "Just some stuff."

Jack, knowing why Daniel was being guarded, raised his eyebrows and said, patting him on the shoulder, "Good for you, Daniel, although I would have thought you were the proper date type. Does Sam know that you've got a date?"

Daniel, embarrassed and annoyed, said, "Jaaack!"

"Just kidding ya, Space Monkey… Good luck… I think Sam will need it though. I better call her and tell her that she's going to be poisoned."

Daniel remarked, annoyed, "Jack, I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer."

"You just did."

Daniel sighed and asked as he spun around, "Do you want some coffee?"

"No… I better be going."

"When's your flight?"

"Eight."

Daniel, confused, said, "It's five now."

"Daniel, you don't want an old man hanging about. I've got to go."

"Jack…"

"I'm going to hang around the mountain for a bit – people to see and all that. It's been nice."

They hugged again, and Daniel asked, "Do you want me to call you tonight?"

Jack shrugged and said, a wistful expression on his face, "I think that's gonna be best – you'll… Never mind. Have fun."


	32. The Date

For the second time that day, Sam answered the door, but this time, it was Daniel on the other side, carrying a mysterious package in his arms. They kissed, and she asked,

"What's the package?"

He replied as he walked past her, through the lounge and into the kitchen, "It's a surprise… no peeking."

She watched, bemused as he put it into the fridge, and she, holding the phone, asked, "What do you want? Cam recommended the new Schezuan place on the corner of Madison and Crabtree."

He chuckled, remarking, "He's obsessed with Schezuan food."

Smiling in amusement, she replied as he held her in his arms, gently kissing her forehead, "He was stationed out in Vietnam..."

She met his lips with her own and he gently pushed her against the doorframe as the kiss grew in passion, leaving them both aroused. Slipping her arms around his neck, she said as she rested her head against his shoulder,

"I'll tell you what… I'll order the food and you can go home and pack an overnight bag."

He froze in shock, gazing down at her as he asked, uncertain, "Sam, are you sure?"

She replied, reaching up to caress his jaw, "Not like that… if you're totally uncomfortable, you could stay in my spare room… The night we slept together on your couch was the best night's sleep I've had in a long time."

He smiled like the sun coming out from the clouds, and gently trailed kisses down her neck before whispering, "The same for me… it felt good to wake up with you."

He continued with a gentle smile, "In that case, I'll go and get my bag… I don't want you to feel pressurised into doing anything. I'm quite happy just sleeping with you."

She blushed a little and replied before kissing him again, "Me too."

--------------------

Daniel came back just as the food arrived, and he placed his bag in the hallway before going about helping Sam sort the take-out containers out in the kitchen. Instantly knowing something was up when she noticed him frown ever so slightly, she asked as she reached up into a cupboard for plates,

"What's up?"

He looked at her, surprised, and she rolled her eyes, remarking, "I know it doesn't work all the time, but most of the time, I can read you like a book."

His cheeks coloured ever so slightly, and he then said with a huff, "Jack… the other one, is driving back to Fort Collins tomorrow."

Not sure what to make of that, she said slowly, "Um… ok… are you sad about it?"

Confused, he looked at her for a moment before realising how he must have sounded, and he smiled slightly, saying, "Of course I am… but that's not what's got me ticked off. Remember you said that he's just like Jack with better knees? He kept making little comments when he saw me come back and pack a bag…"

She laughed, ever so slightly embarrassed as they emerged from the kitchen with their food, putting it on the coffee table, and she knelt down in front of her DVD collection, replying, "Jack's always going to be Jack, whichever body he happens to be in."

He smiled and she asked, "Action, adventure, comedy, crime, western, thriller, mystery, tragedy, sci-fi, or romance?"

He knelt down next to her and remarked, amused, "You have Short Circuit 2?"

She rolled her eyes and retorted with a little smile, clutching the DVD to her chest, "Leave Johnny 5 alone."

She put it down and asked, "Hey, how about… Star Wars?"

He looked at her, an eyebrow raised as he remarked, "You have got to be kidding me. Jack's desensitisation didn't quite work… although Teal'c watches the original three during every Earth-side leave."

She frowned slightly, replying, "Ah you have a point… several in fact… hmm… Daniel, come on, you choose."

"Fine. You know, I wouldn't mind Indiana Jones."

Amused, she remarked, gazing at him, "Now I would have thought that you would be well and truly sick of those films, especially after Ferretti kept referring to it years back whenever he saw you."

"Hey, they're good films…"

"Alright, but nothing work-related, so that excludes Last Crusade."

His eyes twinkling with mischief, he asked, "What about Temple of Doom?"

"Eww, no… it just reminds me of the Goa'uld."

He grimaced a little as he looked down, and then he asked, "Well… Raiders of the Lost Ark… oh, wait, we can't watch it…"

She sighed and said with a wistful expression as she patted his hand, "We didn't get to open the Ark… we never even saw it, so I think we're safe."

He gazed at her for a moment and then began, his voice serious, "Sam… if things could have been different…"

He trailed off, his gaze shifting to the floor in front of him, and she said before leaning over to kiss him, "I don't know, Daniel. I honestly don't know. If we hadn't been so scared… it might have worked out. You never know, there's probably a Universe out there where we've been together for years."

She cradled his jaw in her hand, stroking his cheek with her thumb as he closed his eyes, savouring the intimacy of the contact. She then leaned in and kissed him, this time his arms coming around her as he returned the gesture, pulling her onto his lap. Breaking the kiss as she held onto his shoulders, she remarked with a grin,

"I think we better eat."

He affectionately rubbed her nose with his, replying with a mirroring grin, "That might be a good idea right now."

Without a word, she loaded Raiders of the Lost Ark and joined him on the couch as the DVD machine went through the usual rigmarole of checking the DVD was actually in the machine before proceeding to take its sweet time loading it. Wanting to be closer, they eventually moved around so that he was reclining on the couch, and she was pulled up against him, sat in between his legs, his right foot on the floor.

They talked in between mouthfuls, making odd comments about the film, exchanging little kisses and caresses, all the while growing more and more comfortable with their growing intimacy, and feeling utterly happy and carefree.

Their meal over, he whispered in her ear before kissing it, "Sam, pause the disk… I've got a surprise."

Intrigued as she was reminded once again of the latest addition to her fridge, she did as she was told and sat up so that he could get up, taking the remnants of their meal with him. She was about to follow him into the kitchen when he turned around and stopped her, saying,

"It wouldn't be a surprise if you saw it now."

She rolled her eyes and sat back on the couch, looking at the frozen image of Karen Allen changing her clothes, and he returned a couple of minutes later with two half-plates of the most enticing chocolate cake that she had ever seen. She remarked as he gave her a plate and then resumed his place on the couch,

"You're trying to get me fat, aren't you? I can just imagine that being some crazy Goa'uld plot."

He rolled his eyes before kissing her hair and replying, "Well, I knew that you'd kick my ass for cooking, so I thought I'd make dessert at least."

Fascinated and admittedly surprised as she didn't realise his cooking skills stretched as far as baking, she asked, "You baked this?"

"There wasn't time, but I decorated it."

She chuckled and stretched up to kiss him, replying, "It's beautiful. Thanks."

The film resumed, they ate the cake, the Astrophysicist intermittently interjecting comments and exclamations about the cake and the film. A number of times, they exchanged chocolate flavoured kisses which made them giggle.

When the film ended, she helped him to clear up and she said with a grin, "I really enjoyed tonight… thanks Daniel."

As he washed up the minimal crockery that they had used, he replied, "Me too… um, thanks."

--------------------

They resumed their intimate position on the couch, revelling in the feel of each other's bodies in such close proximity. She remarked suddenly as he planted a kiss on her pulse point,

"I'd love to know where you learnt to kiss."

He whispered in her ear before gently nibbling her earlobe, making her groan in pleasure, "Here and there… I'd _love_ to demonstrate further."

She turned over in his embrace and replied, amused, a winsome smile on her face, "That would be a lot of fun."

He gazed at her lovingly, gently moving her hair from her eyes, and she took his glasses off, stretching over to the coffee table to ensure their safety, and then she returned her gaze to him. He tenderly stroked her back, his hand slowly reaching her neck as they smiled at each other, and then he carefully pulled her head down to his, her willing lips meeting his own.

They groaned in pleasure as they each kicked things up a notch, and he shifted before breaking off the kiss, saying as he reddened, "Uh, Sam, I…"

She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder as she said quietly, "It's ok, Daniel."

She ran her hand across his chest as he kissed the top of her head, and they stayed that way, no words needing to be said, both of them feeling absolutely euphoric in each other's company.

--------------------

When they both decided to call it a night, they went about getting ready, the Astrophysicist giving Daniel first use of the bathroom, and reminding him, when he protested, that he did the same for her at his place.

As he showered, trying not to think that he was showering in the same place that she showered on a regular basis, he began to grow more and more nervous. What if he did something beyond his control during the night and made her feel awkward? He wouldn't be able to bear losing her again, and he thought, not for the first time, that just sleeping with her was going to turn out to be a very bad idea.

Drying himself off, he looked at himself in the mirror and said to himself, "She trusts me, but she doesn't know what she's letting herself in for. I can't lose her again. All those years she was with Jack was like hell, but at least she was there. What if she goes as far as going back to Area 51 again? After all, the Ori are gone…"

He sighed, and continued, "You've got to tell her that you've got to go home. You can't do this."

He took a deep breath before proceeding to put his clothes back on, and he emerged from the bathroom, now scared that he would hurt her. He knocked on her door to check that she was decent, and when she indicated that she was, he opened the door and opened his mouth to speak, when she smiled slightly, remarking, bemused,

"Daniel, I trust you."

Mentally shaking himself out of his inner gridlock at the way she had almost read his mind, he replied, closing his eyes briefly, "But _I_ don't trust me, Sam… I don't know what could happen… I may be nearly forty-four, but... well, it's been a long time since I've shared a bed."

As he blushed, she ducked her head briefly to hide her smile and she stood up. He made to back away but she stopped him, slipping her arms around his neck, she said as she gazed at his embarrassed features,

"Daniel, I trust you and that's enough. I don't care what happens. Do you honestly think that I'm some inexperienced virgin? If it happens, it happens and I promise you… ok, I _promise_ you that it won't make things weird between us."

He smiled uneasily and she kissed him, continuing with a smile, "We've known each other for twelve years and we've not been at each other's throats, so why start now?"

His smile grew in warmth as he kissed her back, and she whispered, "Go on, get ready for bed…"

He continued smiling as he left the room to get changed in the bathroom, and she sat on the edge of her bed, worried about what he had implied. She mentally shook herself, her frown lifting, and she continued waiting for him, playing with the fabric of her pyjamas.

A few minutes later, he appeared and she made some room in her wardrobe for his clothes. She turned to face him on closing the wardrobe door and remarked as she eyed him appreciatively,

"I like your PJ bottoms – they go with your eyes."

He blushed and said with an equally appreciative expression, "You look great. I've never seen you in red before… it suits you, and I like the pattern."

It was her turn to blush, and they both sat on the edge of her bed, gazing at each other. He caressed her jaw and then stooped to kiss her, whispering,

"I love you so much."

Smiling against his lips, she replied, "I love you too."

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, drawing him closer as they continued kissing. He gently laid her onto her back, his weight supported on his elbows as he lay over her, his lips moving down her throat and under the neckline of her pyjama top as she clung onto him tightly, her fingers running through his soft hair.

He lifted his head to gaze down at her, his love for her shining like a torch in his eyes, and she gently stroked his jaw, whispering, "Thank you for a wonderful date, Daniel."

He smiled, intermittently planting sweet kisses around her face, and he replied, burying his nose in her hair, "Thank you too."

He rolled onto his back, pulling her with him so that her head rested on his chest, and she smiled up at him, saying, "This has got to be the most unorthodox… and best date I've ever had."

He kissed her forehead, replying, "God, same here – I don't think I've ever been so relaxed…"

After a moment, he said, stroking her shoulder, "Jack wanted to know where _we_ would have him over at."

Surprised and worried, she remarked, stretching up to look at him, "Are you sure it wasn't sarcasm?"

He shook his head and replied, "No… I know it's way too early but it got me thinking… we're going to have to make those kinds of decisions someday."

She nodded pensively, thinking wistfully how Jack, during their nearly three years together, hadn't broached the topic, and yet here Daniel was talking about it as if it was something that was normal… and, what was worse, suggested by Jack. Why couldn't Jack have felt more secure in his feelings towards her?

Noticing her silence much to his growing concern, he gently stroked her arm, asking as he tried to look at her, "Sam? What's wrong?"

She shook her head and he eventually managed to see her face, and was hurt to see tears in her eyes. Immediately feeling sorry, he said,

"God, I'm sorry Sam. I didn't think… it's too early. Ok, I won't mention it unless you do."

She shook her head again but this time propped herself up over him on his chest, and as he reached up to dry her tears, she said, pressing her lips together briefly, "Jack never mentioned it. Three years and he never talked about getting a place of our own."

He frowned in worry as he continued to dry her tears, and she kissed him, whispering shakily, "Thank you."

He ran his fingers through her hair and said, "Sam… I don't know what to say. I guess Jack never considered it because he liked how things were. You know how awkward he can be."

She rested her head on his chest again and he gently kissed her. She closed her eyes briefly and said, sniffing, "I'm sorry for crying all over you… I keep doing that."

"It's ok. It just means that I owe you a couple of tearful scenes, and anyway, aren't we supposed to do these kind of things in front of each other now?"

She lifted her head to look at him again, and she asked, smiling gratefully, "Are you tired?"

He rolled his eyes and remarked, "I'm in your bed."

Her eyebrow rising in amusement, she asked, "Do you think you can handle some more making out?"

He raised his eyebrows at her and retorted, smiling nonetheless, "Oh, I think so."


	33. The Waking

Sam woke up, a strong arm around her waist. For a split-second, she thought it was Jack but then she smiled as the memories of the previous night replayed in her head. She closed her eyes and savoured the small soothing puffs of his breath against the back of her neck, and she carefully turned over to watch him, making sure that he didn't wake up, which was tricky seeing as their legs were interlocked.

Smiling, she gently stroked his side and she bit back laughter when he shifted in his sleep, his hand caressing her waist as he murmured, burying his face in her shoulder, "Go back to sleep, honey."

She gently ran her fingers through his hair, caressing the sensitive spot on his neck. He murmured in his sleep, kissing her as he tightened his hold around her waist, and she reached under his t-shirt, smoothing his taut back. His eyes flickered open and she noticed that his eyes appeared darker than usual. He smiled drowsily, saying softly,

"Hey."

"Hey, Sunshine."

They kissed and he remarked as he caressed her waist, "A guy could get used to this."

She grinned and retorted, amused, "A girl too."

Her smile faded into an expression of thoughtfulness as she said, "You do realise that if we're feeling like that just after making out…"

They simultaneously blushed, and he traced her lips with his fingers, replying, "I kind of got that… whenever we get to it, we should probably do it when we're not likely to be called into work."

Amused, she asked, "How's the rest of your week?"

"Ooh, well, I have a couple of things to go through with Balinsky and Nyan, but they can wait 'til next week. It's not like the galaxy's going to be in trouble if I don't deliver on a translation for an inventory of clay jars in Chinese. How about you?"

"Ah, Jay needs something but Bill can cover for me."

He blushed further as he remarked, "You do realise that we've just cleared our schedules to have sex?"

She chuckled, saying, "Oh, the General's face if he found out…"

She suddenly frowned, remembering something, and she asked, "Weren't you supposed to call Jack last night?"

"He got a bit awkward about it… I'll drop him a message later on."

"Ah, typical Jack… I still remember his face when Teal'c and Ish'ta kissed – priceless."


	34. The Day Out, and More

After breakfast, when Daniel had left to go to his house to check his mail, Sam felt lonely after having spent so long with him. She busied herself with her chores which included taking out the trash, but still she felt as though a part of her had gone.

A couple of hours later, he returned to find her on her front step playing a game of Chess against herself, and he sat down next to her, saying, concerned, "Hey."

She looked up in surprise and then smiled, saying, "Hey."

She pulled him into a hug as he kissed her neck, and she asked, "Did you sort everything?"

He nodded, and she said, "I missed you… which sounds strange taking into account that…"

He cut her off with a kiss, and he replied in a whisper, "I missed you too, but I don't think I would have been able to control myself if I had you in my house. It was bad enough the last time."

He suddenly looked worried and asked quietly, his cheeks reddening, "Did… did I poke you last night?"

She held his hands and replied, gazing down at them, and not wanting him to feel awkward, "Nope."

"I'm a terrible liar but you're not far off. What did I do?"

She picked up a hand and kissed it, replying with a smile, "You did poke me."

He looked mortified, and she kissed his cheek, continuing, "I was flattered… you were dreaming about me."

He blushed as he ducked his head, and then he asked, changing the subject swiftly, "Hey, do you want to go out today? We could just wander, holding hands, and more than likely end up making out in public again."

Amused, she replied as she drew him in for a kiss, "I just love how I'm not scared with you. I feel at ease… although I have to glare at a lot of women when they start checking you out."

He snorted deprecatingly, remarking, "Yeah right… if anything, I have to look menacing at all those guys checking _you _out. I don't know where you get your ideas from that I'm some sort of girl magnet."

She laughed, bemused and remarked, "You really don't see it, do you? You, Doctor Jackson, are what we in the business call a prize catch. Didn't you ever wonder why Janet, and then Carolyn never left you with a Nurse for longer than necessary?"

He looked puzzled, and he said with a frown, "I never really noticed."

"There you have it. I do have it on good authority that most of the female demographic at the mountain are sweet on you at the very least. And you'd have to be blind to _not_ notice Satterfield."

He blushed slightly and then remarked with a smile as he held her, "There's only one woman I ever noticed."

--------------------

Spending the morning together, they were on their way to a restaurant for lunch, cutting through a park when Sam stopped, and started chuckling quietly. She gently pulled him towards her, behind a fence, and she whispered, pointing behind him in the distance,

"Check them out."

He turned to see none other than Cam and Vala practically making out on a bench, and Daniel and Sam held onto each other so as not to draw attention to themselves as they laughed. He remarked,

"How far do you think they'll get?"

She retorted with a grin, "How much further can they get? She's already feeling him up."

He snorted softly with laughter and whispered as he gazed down at her briefly, "It's nice though, isn't it, that despite all of the crap, Mitchell and Vala have found happiness."

She smiled distantly as she replied, "They were close in that other Universe too… their Cam and Vala were holding hands in the party shot… although their Cam did mention that he and Vala were on loose ground."

"Yeah… maybe things were different with Tomin over there."

"Hey, do you think we should embarrass them?"

"Oh yeah, like they'll let us get away with that…"

He continued with a mischievous smile, "Maybe we could _accidentally_ stumble across them… but then we'd have to take them to lunch."

"But if we embarrass them enough, they won't come along… I like the way you think, Doc."

They kissed before emerging from behind the fence from the other side to elude Vala's Naquadah powered 'spidey senses'. Some distance away from their friends, on the other side of the bench, they acted above suspicion by kissing, said kissing almost getting out of hand before they parted. Smiling at each other, he took her hand and they walked in the direction of their friends, feigning nonchalance as they talked about little things, swinging their connected hands between them and exchanging little kisses intermittently. They were surprised to say the least when their plan backfired, and a Southern voice remarked,

"Well, that's a thing of beauty – you two finally having a life off-base."

Sam and Daniel exchanged a little look before looking at Cam and Vala, who sported matching mischievous grins, and Vala remarked, "Did you honestly think that we wouldn't see through your little plan?"

Sam and Daniel exchanged another glance before the latter said with a shrug, an arm reaching around Sam's waist, "_Well_, we were trying _not_ to embarrass you."

"Oh come on Daniel… you could have popped up and said 'hi'. Just because we had our tongues down each other's throats…"

The rest of SG-1 glared at her in disbelief, and she remarked, "What? Oh, sure, kissing like that and you blush easily… fine."

Cam asked, "So, how are you guys doing?"

Sam replied, "Good… we were actually on our way to lunch, if you're up for it."

Vala remarked with a mischievous glint in her eye, "Calorie replenishment is a good idea… last night must have taken its toll on you."

The other members of SG-1 rolled their eyes simultaneously, and Cam said with a shrug as Vala raised an eyebrow at him, "Sure we'll eat with you, but I'm going to have to have words with my girlfriend on tact in public, classified or otherwise."

--------------------

After lunch, the two couples parted ways, Sam and Daniel having narrowly escaped a double date. They went for a drive, Daniel wanting to take her to Raton basin to see the K-T boundary near Denver.

When they arrived, they walked along a long rocky ridge, holding hands as they admired the view, and the Archaeologist quietly giving her a brief history of the place,

"The Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary is believed to mark the end of the dinosaurs and the end of the former, and the beginning of the latter period. In geological time, this is a millisecond, and theories of its creation range from the plausible to the unlikely. It's supposed that this dates back to the mass-extinction of the dinosaurs and the rise in dominance of mammalian life. If you look here, you can see a distinct band of Iridium…"

He pointed to a darker band of rock on the rock face beneath them, and she said, surprised, "Iridium's very rare in the Earth's crust – it's a siderophile, meaning that it's a high density transitory metal that bonds with iron…"

"Hm, the density here is anything from 30 to 130 times the normal ratio."

"That's pretty dense."

"Yup, and because of that, there's a theory that the boundary was caused by an asteroid, seeing as…"

With a smile he pointed at her, and she, amused, continued, "Asteroids contain high densities of Iridium among other metals… God, we're geeks."

"Oh yes."

--------------------

They returned to Colorado Springs at nightfall, having had a thrilling day exchanging ideas, and kisses, on the K-T boundary, the two of them choosing to go to Daniel's house after she had picked up an overnight bag from hers. He opened the door, laughing about something that they had seen earlier in the day when he nearly leapt back into her on seeing none other than mini-Jack in the lounge.

Sam stared at him in confusion, and Daniel said, confused too, "Jack, didn't you say that you were driving back to Fort Collins today?"

Mini-Jack shrugged and remarked, "I was going to but I worked things out with the Dean, and I don't have to go back until next week. I miss this place."

Sam and Daniel exchanged a quick glance, the latter saying with a smile, "It's always nice to have you over."

Sam added as they took their jackets off, discreetly concealing her bag in the hallway, "It sure is. You're Jack without the old age grumpiness."

Mini-Jack remarked, "Oh, I'm grumpy alright… You guys have fun?"

Sam replied, glancing at Daniel who had put his arm around her, "We did. We drove up to Raton basin to see the K-T boundary."

Much to both their bemusement, mini-Jack said, "Oh yeah, I know the place. Boundary between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods…"

Noticing their expressions, he added, rolling his eyes, "Don't give me that. I took a girlfriend up once. Susie's a Palaeontologist."

Daniel asked as they sat on the couch together, "Oh, Susie Planchett? You stopped seeing her during your freshman year – she was a nice girl."

Sam asked, "You dumped her?"

Mini-Jack shook his head and looked at Daniel, who looked at Sam and replied, "He just ignored her calls after being weirded out when it hit home that she was really thirty years younger than him, as opposed to two."

Mini-Jack remarked with a sigh, "I'm always going to have that problem what with having grump-ass' fifty-four year old consciousness, and the body of a kid."

"Jack, you're twenty."

"I'm a kid… at least I'm not scrawny any more – that really sucked. I suppose I could actually start going to Church and then enrol in Seminary – it doesn't look as though I'm going to get laid any time soon."

Daniel blushed, and Sam remarked, her cheeks slightly red, "Jack, you've never stepped foot in a Church since your teens… uh, your original teens."

"Well, true… but… that's not the point."

Daniel remarked, his eyebrows raised, "I don't think they'll take too kindly to you signing up because you can't keep up a steady relationship."

"What they don't know won't hurt them… So… you two, eh?"

Sam and Daniel simultaneously rolled their eyes and looked at each other briefly, the latter saying, "Us two, what?"

"I don't know… I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're great together… and don't go wasting time. With your jobs, you never know what might happen from day to day. I know the Ori are gone, but still, there's the little matter of the Jaffa, and you've still got the cover model of Bocce Monthly wandering about pulling poses."

Sam placed her hand on Daniel's thigh as mini-Jack's words sank in, the Archaeologist interlacing his fingers with hers. Mini-Jack gazed at his friends for a moment before saying, "I better be off. I don't want to go messing things up. I saw the bag."

They blushed, and mini-Jack continued, not having the heart to tease them, "Hey, if you can be normal, it's an added bonus for you two."

Daniel said, glancing at Sam, "Jack, you don't have to go…"

"Hey, no, you're nearly twenty-four years older than me – I've got to hang with people my own age. I'll see you around."

Sam stood to hug the younger man and said, "Take care of yourself."

"Hey, don't worry about me Carter – I'm fine… it's Dannyboy here you've got to look out for."

Daniel pulled the younger man into a hug too, saying as he ruffled his hair affectionately, "I hate saying goodbye to you."

"Well, Space Monkey, I'd rather not stick around while you two are doing the wild thing."

"Jaaack!"

"Take care of yourselves."

And with that, he left, leaving two stunned scientists. Sam glanced at Daniel and remarked,

"He's different."

"Yep… he'd usually stay longer to tease us… It looks like he's finally growing up, but…"

She continued for him, "I'd rather he stayed the same."

He smiled gently as he held her close to him, and he remarked, "I love this whole mind reading thing we have. It's like we're one person sometimes."

She smiled against his lips as she kissed him, before replying, "It sure does. We should have done this years back."

"Ah Sam, let's not think about the could-bes and the might-have-beens… we did get together eventually."

"Yeah. I wonder why the other us got together so much earlier though."

He planted sweet kisses around her face as he replied, "Maybe that other guy had the balls to tell you out-and-out how he felt about you… uh, the other you."

She slid her arms around his neck and said, kissing him, "You know, Jack… the other one, has a point."

He paused in confusion before saying, "Sam… I don't want to you to do anything you're not ready for."

She smiled at him and said as she reached up to caress his brow, "I am ready, Daniel… I do want this."

Tears involuntarily welled in his eyes as his heart beat faster, and he asked, his breath catching in his throat, "Are you sure?"


	35. The Much More

_Ah, this chapter's got a rude scene in it… a very rude scene. If you're sensitive, don't say I didn't warn you._

-----------------------

Meaning every word, Sam replied as she gently caressed his neck, "Yes, Daniel. I've never been so sure in my entire life."

He gasped, "Oh God…"

Worried, she asked, "Daniel, what's wrong?"

He closed his eyes as tears fell from them, and he shook his head, whispering an apology. She pressed a kiss to his lips and repeated her question. He opened his eyes and said, now smiling softly,

"It's been so long… I'm sorry; it's just a bit much to take in."

"Don't apologise, I understand. We don't have to do it tonight. I was just planning on sleeping with you again."

He tenderly kissed her, and replied, his eyes reflecting his words, "I want to, Sam… It's ok."

He added, blushing, "I might have forgotten a lot though."

She chuckled and kissed his neck, whispering, "Making love isn't a series of formalised rituals… it's the ultimate expression of love, and the equally ultimate union of two souls."

He hugged her, whispering back, "I couldn't have phrased it better."

"Make love to me, Daniel."

They kissed, the kiss steadily growing in passion now that they had no limitations, the passion growing exponentially. At one point, he had backed her up against the wall as his caresses grew far bolder than they had been, and she pulled him closer, their hips rocking against each other intermittently. His lips left hers to leave a trail of fire down her earlobe, her neck, and her collarbone as she clung onto him ever tighter, gasping his name.

They paused as she felt movement against her leg, and they gazed at each other. He whispered shakily,

"Bedroom."

"I couldn't have said it better."

They quickly made their way to his bedroom, knowing, and admittedly nervous of what was to come. Their nervousness dissipated when they went back into each other's arms, and one by one, items of clothing fell to the floor, along with his glasses. On removing her top and her bra, he gasped on really seeing her for the first time, and his fingers involuntarily reached for the firm orbs, touching them as though they were precious artefacts of some lost civilisation.

In turn, she marvelled at his toned chest, running her fingers across it, through the fine hairs, and then her hand drifted lower, to his belt buckle. As he stopped his examination of her breasts to hold onto her shoulders so that he could see what she was doing, she managed to undo his jeans, pulling them down as he worked on her jeans. Just in the remaining items of their underwear, they sat down on the end of the bed before kissing once more, caressing the naked expanses of skin that lay before them.

His mouth worked its way down her neck once again, and this time, slid further south, making her gasp and groan in pleasure. Laying her down so that he was on top of her, his elbows taking most of his weight, he continued to give her pleasure, his tongue going further and further as she clutched his hair, almost screaming his name.

He came back up for another kiss when she flipped him onto his back and straddled him. Surprised and intrigued, he gazed up at her, and then his head rolled back in sheer pleasure as she gave him what he had given her. He gasped when she whipped his boxers off, casting them to the ground, and she gazed at him, amazed. He opened his mouth to speak when she shook her head and said,

"You haven't had sex in nine years… it'll be over too quickly anyway."

She smiled and smoothed his stomach before resuming her delivery of pleasure by the truckload. He almost pulled a muscle when his head rolled back so far as he called her name, panting as he came to a release, and they looked at each other, a thousand words passing between them.

He laid her down with him, and then made love to her with his mouth, wishing that they could have done this years back. Their hips moved together, and she whispered, her hair damp with sweat,

"Daniel."

He paused, gazing down at her, and with her eyes, she managed to convey everything that she needed to, and he too. He gently pressed a kiss to her lips as she shifted to allow him access. Supporting himself on his hands, either side of her, he whispered with a teary smile,

"I love you so much, Samantha."

Tears in her eyes too, she nodded and whispered back, "I love you, Daniel… forever."

He positioned himself over her and then with one swift movement, he was inside of her, the feeling sending their senses reeling. He began to move in and out, grunting softly as he gazed at her lovingly until the ecstasy brought on by their lovemaking exploded. Feeling as though his blood was white hot, as well as mass-relocated to a certain part of his anatomy, he soared with her to unimaginable heights, fireworks exploding, champagne corks popping, and the unstable vortex of an active Stargate exploding forth, bursting with energy.

And then they felt themselves descend, slowly but surely. He collapsed with exhaustion, unable to support himself any longer. He slid off her and held her in his arms as they both began to cry over what they had experienced together, something far more beautiful and wonderful than they had ever experienced with anyone else in their entire lives.

When they felt able to talk, he whispered as he held onto her tightly, "Samantha… that was amazing…"

She nodded as she buried her face in his chest, whispering back, "Same here. I… I've never experienced anything like that before…"

"Me neither. God, I can't believe we've made love… it seems so surreal."

He tenderly kissed the sweat-slicked skin of her neck, and she smoothed his backside, remarking, "No wonder that other Sam and Daniel were happy… if the sex is this good all the time, we could use the data to convert more universes."

He laughed, and she continued, gazing at him, "And you, Doc, haven't forgotten a thing… I'm going to be replaying this for weeks to come."

He smiled against her neck, burying his nose in her hair as he replied, "It's going to be hard sitting through a briefing knowing what we've just done, and be able to keep a straight face."

"Oh, unbelievably… are you up for an encore performance?"

He, still smiling, replied, "I might be… in about fifteen minutes… I know the ancient Egyptians had seven orgasms, but we could black out."

She laughed, retorting, "Ah, now that would be fun… seven orgasms… Wow… in one night?"

"In one night."

"Double wow. It's a shame we're too old to go to such lengths."

"Ha, we're in much better shape than most people in their forties."

"That's true… I'd love to have seen more of that other Universe."

"Me too. It would certainly be an educational experience."


	36. The Morning after the Night Before

_Ok, so last chapter wouldn't have been considered 'rude' by a lot of you – to be honest, I lost my bottle (directions to said bottle on a postcard). lol. Anyway, only gave the warning just in case some people wanted to skip that part seeing as most of the story hadn't involved any other misnomered rude scenes before now (except a few implied thingies)…_

_The situation with the Jaffa, as discussed during a quiet period in this chapter, is gone into greater depth in the sixth story, Commanders, which will hopefully be posted when I've finished rewriting this. As always, reviews are welcome and will be replied to._

_--------------------_

Daniel was the first to wake the next morning, a naked Sam draped over his equally naked body and he smiled. For the first time in… well, for the first time that he could remember, he felt unbelievably happy, content and satisfied, his spirit feeling as though it was ever soaring as he thought back to what had happened the previous night.

After sharing and enjoying the pleasures of love, they had turned to the pleasures of talk, definitely a second favourite for them now, and they had bared their souls to each other. For the first time in the past twelve years, he felt closer to her than he had ever been, even back in the early days of the programme when they had been like two peas in a pod.

And then memories of Sha're resurfaced, and he gazed wistfully into the distance. All of Abydos was gone, but he still carried the last remnant of that lost people. Tightening his hold on a still slumbering Sam, he sighed quietly, sad at how things had turned out with regard to his wife. Sha're had changed him, not as much as being on SG-1, and then an Ascended being had, but still, she had changed him in her own way.

He whispered silently, talking to her like he did from time to time, _'I'm happy again, my love. You never had a chance to get to know Sam, but she is the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. I love you and I will always love you, Sha're. You'll always be a part of me, and I am grateful for the short time we had together.'_

As a tear ran down his cheek, he finally let go of the ghost of his late wife.

Gazing down at his best friend, he kissed her shoulder and watched as she shifted in his hold, smiling into his chest as she murmured sleepily, "Hmm… 'morning Daniel…"

He smiled and proceeded to trail kisses down her neck and shoulder, a hand stroking her back as he whispered, "Samantha."

Still somewhat asleep, she kissed his chest and rested her head on his chest again, and he chuckled softly. His hand wandered down her body, eliciting an immediate response from her. She made a humming noise of pleasure, and her eyes flickered open.

He smiled as they kissed, and she remarked, "I like that wake-up call… not good if we have to go to work this morning because I'd really rather not get up."

They became mired in a hot kiss and his fingers ran down her body, sending delightful tingles down her spine. He whispered as his mouth worked her throat again,

"It's a shame we have to go to work tomorrow… we just have to check on the Jaffa, give them a little help… nothing major, hopefully… because you know what I'd rather do after work…"

She kissed his neck, amused as she remarked, "A translation?"

He stared at her, eyebrows raised as she grinned, and he kissed her, retorting sarcastically, "Yes, a translation."

Smiling, she whispered in his ear, "Well, in that case Doc, I guess I'll have to use your shower by myself."

He groaned, remarking with an expression of mock-pain, "You really can be a mischief-maker sometimes, you do realise that don't you?"

She stroked a certain part of his anatomy, making his breathing hitch, and she retorted, feigning innocence, "Basic training never covered mischief-making, so I'll take that as a compliment."

They made love fast and furiously, the already loosely made bed going eight ways from centre; laughter, shrieks and groans filling the room.

A little later, propped up over her on his elbows, he said, a touch wistful, "I hope we can behave ourselves off-world… I don't want to be separated from you."

She gazed up at him, running her fingers along his lips as she replied, frowning briefly, "I hope so too… If there are problems, I'll put in for planetside duties. After all, I only came back from Nellis to deploy the Mark IX… you managed fine without me before then."

Horrified, he said, "No, Sam, you're the foremost expert on the 'gate – I don't care about Rodney – and you practically invented the dialling computer… you created that early computer model to calculate drift rates of planets in the 'gate network… and I missed you."

"The team was nothing without you, Daniel during that year… we need your diplomatic and linguistic expertise. How many times have you saved our skins, or the skins of an entire planet just by being you?"

His gaze dropped as he said, "I screwed up on Bedrosia."

Forcing him to meet her gaze, she replied, fire in her eyes, "You didn't. There was nothing anyone could have done. They picked on you because they thought that you were the weak link in the chain… they got the surprise of their lifetime though. You didn't give them anything about Teal'c and that was what was most important… If we ever come over that rat again, I'll shove a few P-90 bullets up his ass and see how he likes it."

He smiled slightly, remarking, "God, I love you, you crazy woman."

"I love you too, fruitcake."

They exchanged tender kisses, and he asked, mirth in his eyes, "How does a shower sound to you?"

Smiling up at him, she asked as she ran her hands over his chest, "Would that be a collaborative project or an individual one?"

"Your choice."

"In that case, I'll go for the collaborative project then… it'll give me more chance to play with you."

He blushed, smiling nonetheless as he retorted, "Likewise."

--------------------

After a shower that didn't involve a lot of washing, but did involve a lot of _other_ things… _other_ things which were resumed on his bed twice, and then once downstairs after breakfast. They lay together on the couch, feeling utterly at peace, he in boxers and a t-shirt, and she in one of his larger t-shirts.

As she rested her head on his chest, he tenderly kissed the back of her neck, and whispered, "I can get us out of work tomorrow, if you want… One of us could be sick and to avoid suspicion, one of us could be _suddenly _needed planetside."

"Like that's going to avoid us being suspected! General Landry's going to pull us on unprofessional conduct. We might as well get Dakara over and done with, and then let the scientific and engineering teams do their thing. There's still the Lucian Alliance to deal with but I suspect that it won't take too much, especially if the Jaffa get their collective act together."

He nodded, replying, "The Jaffa could be a very powerful body if one: they were unified, two: they used their collective power for the greater good. It's going to be a while before it's all ironed out, especially with Illac Renin playing up. They want to be recognised as an official political party within the rebuilt nation."

"Oh my."

He said with a sigh as he slowly ran his hand up and down her back, "Yep. The President's hoping to get the Jaffa unified for obvious reasons, but I'm not too sure about having the negotiations on Earth. Ok, it's the best place what with us being the Fifth race, but it's going to be very tedious. They'll be plenty of boasting, taunting and creative insults traded before the year's out. I'm not sure how they're going to reconcile, if they reconcile."

She gazed down at him, smiling gently as she said, stroking his jaw, "If anyone can sort it, it's you… It'll take some work especially if word gets out that it wasn't actually us that opened the Ark, but what they don't know won't hurt them. It's bad to have secrets like that from our allies but I suppose it works out when you consider that those allies only keep in touch for their own interests. The Tok'ra are harder and harder to reach, especially after Dad went, the Nox are pacifists, the Asgard and the Tollan are gone… To be honest, it's not much fun being the Fifth Race."

As they both grew thoughtful and admittedly, sad about humanity's place in the Milky Way, he held her close, his hand continuing to rub her back in smooth motions as he replied, "It isn't always going to be doom and gloom. We're like the torchbearers of a new age, hopefully one of peace what with the Goa'uld being heavily fragmented and disorganised especially since the Jaffa initially realised on a large scale what they could accomplish by themselves."

She sighed against his shoulder and kissed his neck, whispering, "I just hope these past twelve years haven't been a waste."

"Solely on the basis of the technology we acquired, the programme has been well worth it. We're gradually integrating Asgard technology into our technological development although I suppose it'll be a while before it can be used for mainstream use."

"And one day the programme will be public… I can't see it happening soon though because the galaxy's not safe. Not only that, but would we really want to commercialise relatively simple planets such as Edora, Enkara, Simarka, or the one where the inhabitants have a symbiosis with their environment? We're well aware of the effects of messing with a planet's cultural or technological development."

He nodded and replied, "That's a good point… or several points. I'm sure the top brass are aware of that, or rather, they should be. We have no right to mess up other planets like that. I suppose there could be limited travel to trusted worlds, worlds of an appropriate technological development. We are so far away from that but we could use the 'gate for scientific purposes, the results of which could be gradually integrated into Earth's technology."

She raised her head to look at him, and she remarked with a wistful smile, "I really couldn't imagine having such an in depth conversation with Jack."

Not having an answer to that, he gently kissed her and she smiled as she rested her head on his shoulder, watching the gentle rise and fall of his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair, trailing his fingers down her neck as she sighed softly, her hand running across his chest and then down his stomach, and lower, the poor man's pelvis rising a good few inches off the couch briefly as a reflex to her touch.

He remarked, mirth in his eyes, "You Air Force officers are all nymphomaniacs."

She grinned, retorting, "And you love me for it."

"Ah, I don't love you for the sex, Sam… I love _you_ for who you are."

She kissed him, replying, "I can say the same for you… and the sex is one hell of a bonus."

"Oh yes. You do realise that you're going kill me, don't you?"

She replied as she gazed down at him wistfully, "You'll find someway to come home again – you always do… but I am scared that one day, it'll be your last time."

He tenderly dried her tears, and whispered, "Hey, hey."

"I'm sorry Daniel… I don't want to lose you again."

"I don't want to lose you either."

They held onto each other, both aware of the precarious nature of their jobs, and she asked, "How come it was easier for our alternate counterparts to get together? They looked so happy… and those pictures…"

"Maybe something happened. We all know that those twins were born on St Valentine's Day in '07, which means that they were conceived roughly nine months before that… Oh."

They stared at each other, coming to roughly the same hypothesis, and she said, scared, "That Amazon mission was in June of '06."

"That could have been the fork in the road, the reason why our realities are different. Maybe something happened and we finally got our acts together… but if either of us were injured, how would I have been in a position to father children on you, or how would you have conceived?"

"Maybe there's a lot more to this than meets the eye. What if that Daniel had managed to convince their Cam to surrender their weapons? I wouldn't have been shot in the back like I was in this Universe."

"Speaking of which…"

He gently smoothed her arms and when she looked at him oddly, he said sheepishly, "I haven't had a chance to get a look at your back, considering what we've been doing…"

She smiled and they both sat up, she in between his legs, and he lifted the back of the t-shirt she wore. She said as she felt his fingers trace patterns on her back,

"It's been nearly three years… there's still a little scarring but nothing that hurts any more – Carolyn did a good job with the stitching."

With a concerned look in his eyes, he traced the faint pattern of what had once been vicious scarring, and he lowered his head to kiss the skin. She closed her eyes as she savoured his caresses, and then she turned her head to kiss him. They gazed at each other, worried about what might have been until they kissed again.

She turned over in his embrace so that she was straddling his lap, and he remarked, "Five bucks says that we have sex again within five minutes."

She raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief as he smiled, feigning innocence, and then she said, rolling her eyes, "Fine, you're on."

They settled down on the couch again, their arms around each other, when he kissed her… only, it didn't stop there. He nibbled her earlobe, trailing kisses down her throat, and then going for her collarbone as her head rolled back. She remarked, groaning,

"Daniel, you cheat…"

"Hey, just because you're a nymphomaniac doesn't mean that the bet's invalid."

Growling in frustration as she lifted her hips in an attempt to get closer to him, she remarked heatedly, "You're getting your money!"

He laughed in amusement before proceeding to make love to her for the seventh time that morning, his boxers and t-shirt being ripped off with a ferocity that half-scared and half-intrigued the Archaeologist. Her t-shirt being thrown who-knows-where, they quickly came to a release, groaning each other's names loudly.

She remarked, drained yet ecstatic, "How do you want your money?"

He buried his nose in her hair as he said with a grin, "Chocolate and Walnut cookies…"

"Ah… I'll get you some… next week. I'll join you as well – it's been a while."

He kissed her shoulder and drew an Afghan over them as they began to doze off, their endeavours of that morning catching up with them.


	37. The Meeting with the Clone

Cam, Vala in the passenger seat with Teal'c in the back, pulled up in front of Daniel's house, saying, "I'm worried… their cells are switched off, and we haven't heard from them in a day… a whole bunch of stuff could have happened."

As Vala looked thoughtful, Teal'c remarked, "I see that you are as optimistic as always. Perhaps they are partaking in the pleasures of love. ColonelCarter is a great warrior, as is DanielJackson, and…"

Cam cleared his throat, and said, turning to glare at him, "T! Come on, I think Vala's rubbing off on you."

Vala remarked, amused, "Oh lay off him, Cameron… he's just saying what we're all thinking about our two delectable scientists. I can tell you that they're _not_ just talking."

Cam rolled his eyes and was about to get out when he spotted a young man walking up Daniel's front path. The Colonel frowned and asked, "Who…?"

Teal'c said, smiling slightly, "It is O'Neill the younger."

Vala said, confused, "I didn't know that Jack had a son… well, I did, but not like this…"

Cam said, glaring at her briefly, "That's his clone… there was that little thing with Loki five years ago. This guy should be twenty now."

"Oh! I heard about a clone… I thought Daniel was joking."

Teal'c replied as he got out of the car, "Indeed he was not."

Cam and Vala got out too, and mini-Jack turned, his eyes widening on seeing Teal'c. He waved, saying with a grin as he ran towards them,

"T! God, I've missed you so much!"

The younger man pulled Teal'c into a hug, and he remarked, "The hair suits you – makes you look less belligerent."

Cam and Vala exchanged a little glance, the former saying, "Nice to meet you, Sir."

Mini-Jack retorted, "Come off it, Mitchell - I'm assuming you are Colonel Mitchell – I'm not him."

Vala smiled and said, "You're a nice young man anyway."

Mini-Jack rolled his eyes, and Cam asked, "Sir… I mean, Jack, what are you doing here?"

Mini-Jack replied, "Oh, someone's gotta look out for Dannyboy… him and Carter had some geek fun yesterday – they drove up to Denver to check out the K-T boundary."

Vala asked, glancing at a perturbed Teal'c, "Didn't they come back?"

"Of course. I was here when they did… Carter brought an overnight bag."

They all exchanged guarded looks, and Cam said with a shrug, "Well, we want to see if they're ok… If we hear anything _other_ than cries for help, we run, capische?"

Vala looked puzzled at first but nodded resolutely in agreement, as did Teal'c to a more serious extent, and mini-Jack shrugged, saying as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Yeah, nothing like seeing and hearing way more of your buddy and old second-in-command than you were ever meant to."

They walked up Daniel's front path, Vala discreetly checking out the younger man's backside and giving it an appreciative smile as Teal'c's eyebrow shot up. Inside, they heard nothing, and mini-Jack was about to lead them through to the kitchen when he paused on reaching the couch, and smiled.

They all gathered around him and were surprised to say the least to see Sam and Daniel, fast asleep in each other's arms, naked under an Afghan, a few items of clothing visible on the other side of the room. Teal'c smiled slightly, and Vala reached for Cam's hand, smiling softly when he turned to look at her. Mini-Jack, a fatherly smile on his face, smoothed Daniel's hair and then said quietly,

"I think we better vamoose before they get embarrassed."

Cam remarked, glancing at Vala, "Well, it looks like they're fine."

Vala added with a fond smile, "Our lifeless scientists have a life."

Teal'c said, arms around mini-Jack and Vala, "Indeed."

Mini-Jack wrote a little note, pinning to the couch above the slumbering scientists as said scientists stirred but didn't quite wake up. Sam's hand reached up to caress Daniel's neck, and then, in reply, he kissed her bare shoulder. The four visitors exchanged embarrassed glances, mini-Jack remarking,

"That's our cue… come on, let's roll."

They left the house, closing the door softly behind them and walked down the path together. Vala asked, curious as Cam looked on, worried,

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Mini-Jack raised an eyebrow and remarked, "I've got the consciousness of a fifty-four year old and the body of a twenty year old. If I got with anyone my physical age, it would be too weird, and if I got with anyone my real age, it would look gross. Looks like Dannyboy's celibacy's rubbed off on me."

As Teal'c placed a consoling hand on mini-Jack's shoulder, Cam said, glancing worriedly at the way Vala looked thoughtful, "I'm sure you'll find someone, one day."


	38. The Note, and Flirting

Sam and Daniel awoke simultaneously round about mid-afternoon, still feeling overwhelmingly happy. They kissed, and he smiled, saying,

"I wish we didn't have to go to work tomorrow… I know what I'd rather be doing."

She lightly sucked his collarbone, whispering, "Same here."

He smiled as he held her in his arms, and then he froze in surprise on seeing a note pinned above them. Feeling him freeze, she turned, following his gaze upwards as his hand slowly reached for the folded piece of paper. He said, scared,

"I, uh, I think someone was here while we were asleep."

Shocked and embarrassed, she exclaimed, "What?! How?!"

"I don't know."

Taking a deep breath, he opened the note, looked stunned, and then smiled, bemused, saying as he glanced at her, "It's Jack… the other one."

Relaxing, she still looked worried as she asked, "What does it say?"

With a raised eyebrow, he read as she rested her head on his chest,

"_Hey you two,_

_I'm figuring you two spent the morning theorising and then got too hot, hence the lack of clothing. Good for you… it really is time that you two both had lives outside of the mountain, and you're good for each other._

_Just saw Teal'c – his hair looks great in person… saw Mitchell and Vala too, and I have to say… she's nice – I like her, but she appears to be attached to Mitchell, or the other way round._

_Anyway, just checking up on you… I'll probably be round later on._

_Jack._"

He looked at her and smiled as did she, and she said, "He's so thoughtful."

"He is despite putting up that front about not giving a monkey's about anything… and it looks like Mitchell might have competition."

She chuckled, remarking, "Cam's nearly thirty-nine, and mini-Jack's technically twenty… _that_ would be a funny fight although Jack would whup his ass."

"Yeah… I always thought that he and Vala would go well together if they ever met – they're both unfamiliar with the concept of tact."

They laughed, and she remarked, "Oh God, Cam had to stamp on her foot every time she mentioned a planet at Milliways."

"Hmm, I liked that place although their stand-up comedy is painful to listen to."

"Come on, you don't go for the stand-up – you go for the Astronomy theme… Ok, it is a bit silly… I suppose we're even on dates pertaining to our respective fields of expertise although I really should take you to the Space museum in Denver… you'd just love that."

He kissed her softly, remarking, "I love listening to you talk anyway so it's not going to make a difference if you rabbit on at a million miles per hour with your eyes glazed over."

Looking at him in disbelief, she shook her head slightly and said, pouting, "At least I listen to what you say."

Seeing right through her 'annoyance', he kissed her again, whispering as he buried his nose in her hair, "I listen too… why do you think I keep chipping in?"

"You could have just doing the polite man thing, although considering what we've done since last night, that isn't likely…"

They made out some more, and then he stretched, saying, "Oh, what do you say to a rendezvous in the shower in say, ten minutes? I have to use the bathroom – it's been so long that I've forgotten I need to go afterwards."

She kissed him on the neck and sat up, and noticed much to her bemusement that he stayed in the same position. He reached up to caress one of her breasts, saying,

"You're so beautiful, Samantha."

Liking the way he said her name, she smiled and remarked, glancing behind her, "And you're well-endowed."

"It's a shame saddle-sores do what they say on the tin. I'd love to spend the day making love to you."

Raising an eyebrow at his unusual forthrightness, she remarked, "Ok, who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?!"

As he stood up, stretching, he said, "Well, if I was an alien clone, it's a worry that you got naked… although I'm not complaining."

When she had stood up, he patted her backside and she turned, chasing him out of the room and up the stairs as she said, waving her fist, "Right, that's it, what have you done with Daniel?"


	39. The Philosophical Break Up

_For those of you interested in the CamVala aspect of this story, I do apologise for the outcome of this chapter, but you won't be disappointed in Commanders. It's just that this being an AU here, I wanted to explore another possibility._

_--------------------_

SG-1 returned home from Dakara, walking down the ramp as Landry greeted them. Cam gave him a quick report on what had happened, and Daniel mentioned a story of some reputedly drunk Jaffa seeing water gush out of some of the ruins. Landry dismissed them so that they could shower and get checked out by Carolyn. When the others had left, Landry stopped the scientists and asked quietly,

"Did you have any problems out there?"

Sam and Daniel simultaneously shook their heads, the former saying, "No Sir… none whatsoever."

"Good. I'm glad. Go on."

They left, and Daniel whispered when they were out of earshot, "Maybe he's just curious."

Sam replied in a whisper in the corridor, "Either that or he's collecting dirt for Jack."

"Surely Jack's got more class than that?"

"You'll be surprised."

--------------------

Cam sat at his desk in his office, working on the last of his paperwork before he could take Vala home, when there was a knock at his door. Still writing, he called, not looking up,

"Come on in."

He glanced up and paused on seeing Vala slip into his office, closing the door behind her and looking troubled. He immediately got up to hug her, asking as he gazed down at her in his arms,

"Vala? What's wrong?"

She sighed and said, "Sit down, Cameron."

"Why don't I like the sound of that?"

"Just sit down."

He perched on the edge of his desk as she fiddled with her fingers, intermittently pacing the floor. Finally, she looked at him and said, her eyes reflecting great emotional turmoil,

"Cameron, I'm sorry."

Sensing that he was being dumped, he gazed at her sadly, asking, "What did I do?"

She closed her eyes and shook her head before saying, throwing her hands down, "I have to take this road, Cameron… I…I don't know what's going to happen… if it's going to happen…"

He snapped, angry and jealous, "It's l'il Jack, isn't it?!"

She nodded, tears in her eyes, and he stood up, turning his back on her as he said tightly as his heart contracted, "I think you had better leave, Vala."

"Cameron, this isn't how I wanted things to be between us… it's just that that encounter with that other Universe has got me thinking about how different things could be."

He turned around, hurt whirling in his eyes as he remarked, "So running off with someone nineteen years younger than me is supposed to be a good thing then? Jesus Christ, Vala, I'm only a man – do you even know how insignificant it makes me feel to lose the woman I love to someone who deserves a good punching from time to time?"

"Cameron…"

He shot back, anger radiating in his intense gaze, "No Vala, I think you've said enough. You're obviously into younger men. Well, I'm sorry for being too old for your tastes but you could have at least told me. God, I love you!"

She was crying by now as she said, "I never meant to hurt you… I just didn't know who else to tell. He intrigues me."

Grimacing briefly, he wrapped his arms around her as she continued crying, and he gently kissed the top of her head. She continued, her voice muffled,

"I have to do this… I don't know why but I just feel as though I should."

She met his gaze and said, her expression clearing, "Well, I think we were ok in that other Universe."

"How so?"

"My dear Colonel, we were holding hands in one of those delightful photographs."


	40. The Support, and Love Scenes

_Well, if you read the first incarnation of this story, you won't need any warnings… but then again, why would you read an M story if you weren't expecting… ahem, some action? lol_

_--------------------_

As Sam and Daniel curled up on her couch at her house, she resting the back of her head against his shoulder as he ran his fingers through her hair, the phone rang. They exchanged a glance, and she remarked as he reached for it,

"That better not be an emergency."

He smiled briefly as he answered it, "Hello?"

"Jackson? Ah, I forgot you're staying over at Sam's tonight. I'll let you get on."

Frowning, Daniel asked, sensing something was going on, "Mitchell, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing… nothing…"

Glancing at Sam, who nodded slightly, worried too, he said, "Do you want to come over?"

"No… I don't want to ruin your weekend. I'll hunt down Teal'c."

"Come on Mitchell, Sam's ok with it."

"Ok… thanks. I'll see you in ten minutes."

The line disconnected, Sam and Daniel exchanged a worried look, the former saying as he held her tighter, "I bet he's had a row with Vala."

He slowly ran his fingers through her hair as he replied, "Sounds like it… I've never heard him that down before."

--------------------

Cam sat on the couch, his head in his hands, flanked by Sam and Daniel, who periodically rubbed his back. Cam said with a bitter chuckle,

"I never thought my age would actually bring me down for once… I lost her to a twenty year old, but that's not what hurts the most. I love Vala… I really do, and she's spouting all these things about needing to take different paths."

Sam and Daniel exchanged a little look behind the southern Colonel's back, and she said gently, "Cam, I know it hurts right now, but it'll pass… now that everything's quiet around here, she's finding herself after everything she's been through. I think she needs this."

Cam sighed, and Daniel said with a rueful smile, patting him on the shoulder, "If it's meant to be, there's hope, but if it isn't, you're going to be wasting your time thinking of what might have been. I know it'll be a while before you're anywhere near beginning to get over her, but this could be good for you. Everything happens for a reason."

Sam pulled their CO into her arms, holding him close as he closed his eyes, and Daniel smiled wistfully, gently rubbing Cam's back. Sam lightly kissed his brow and whispered,

"You can get through this, Cam… this is just one more struggle, but you will come out on top. This isn't a competition between you and Jack. Would you have pursued things with her if we hadn't come across that other Universe?"

She gently released the Colonel as he looked at her, hurt, and he replied, "I guess I wouldn't have… but we've both been so happy and…"

Daniel said, patting him on the shoulder, "Vala needs to find herself. Would it be better to live a lie?"

--------------------

After Cam had insisted that he would rather go home than stay in Sam's spare room, Daniel, Sam in his arms, remarked as he pressed a kiss to her temple, "This could very well be the middle of the story where the lead characters see other people before coming back to each other."

She sighed and said as she closed her eyes when his fingers traced her collarbone, "I've never seen Cam so upset… I hope he can work through it."

"He deserves some happiness that isn't going to turn around and bite him in the butt. At the risk of sounding disloyal to Mitchell at least, I think Vala and the other Jack would be good for each other – they've both known pain… and wasn't he almost gushing about her in that note?"

She smiled briefly and replied as she reached up to rub his jaw, "Looks like we're contagious."

"Yeah."

They kissed, and she said, amused as she noticed his eyes glaze over, "Come on Daniel, let's go to bed before Teal'c decides that he wants romantic advice."

"Now, he could use that – he needs to be acquainted with our good friend _tact_ when he goes to see Ish'ta. He keeps finding someway to offend her."

She laughed as they got up, remarking as she slipped her arms around his neck, "He's a typical guy."

Feigning surprise, he remarked, "So I offend you just because I have my reproductive organs on the outside?"

She chuckled and retorted before kissing him, "You could never offend me, and I rather like your reproductive organs just the way they are."

--------------------

Upstairs in her room, as they changed on either side of her bed, she remarked, smiling, "I never thought I'd have you here like this… I know we've slept here before but now…"

"It is different… in a good way."

"Tell me about it – we're changing in the same room."

He remarked with a pout, "You just wanted to see me naked. I feel so used."

She stared at him in disbelief before throwing a pillow at him. Raising his eyebrows mirthfully, he threw it back before chasing her around the room, the Astrophysicist shrieking with laughter. He chased her over the bed and then out of the room, onto the landing. He managed to catch her at the top of the stairs, carefully body-tackling her against the wall.

Grinning, she ducked out of his hold, laughing as she sprinted down the stairs, taunting him. Sighing melodramatically, he threw his hands down and followed suit, chasing her around the couch. Suddenly, he stepped over the couch and grabbed her, holding her beneath him, both of them laughing intermittently as they caught their breath.

He then kissed her, her body instantly rising to his as they lost themselves in the gesture. As her fingers moved to the waistband of his boxers, his lips moved to her earlobe, nibbling it as her head rolled back and she groaned breathlessly. He flinched when her fingers trailed the smooth skin under his boxers, and his tongue darted out beneath her ear, painting Celtic patterns before his mouth moved further downwards.

He chuckled briefly, closing his eyes when he paused as her fingers smoothed his manhood, his knees feeling as if they were giving out, not that it mattered in their present positions anyhow. Smiling, he resumed kissing her neck, his mouth reaching beneath the collar of her t-shirt to her collarbone as her body bucked.

She stopped him long enough to throw her t-shirt off, his too along with his boxers, and his mouth devoured her chest as she groaned louder, her breath coming in short pants. She raised her hips in an unmistakable invitation but he carried on, making her groan in frustration and then pleasure.

Just as she was considering zatting him for torturing her, he rose above her, holding himself up with his arms as he smiled softly down at her. During a moment of clarity, they gazed at each other, and he whispered before kissing her,

"I love you."

Smiling, she replied as she brought his head down for another kiss, "I love you too."

Maintaining eye contact with each other, they shifted positions, and he plunged deep into her, their eyes simultaneously closing as the action inflamed their senses further. Right before they began to move, he whispered as he lovingly gazed down at her enraptured face,

"I will always love you, Samantha… that much is certain."

He moved within her as she cried out and he grunted softly with each movement, fighting the urge to join her in screaming. They soared high above her house, above the state, the country, the planet, the solar system, the galaxy, floating freely in free space as a single entity. They both cried out, screaming each other's names as they ascended unimaginable heights, their minds blanking out momentarily as they shared the ultimate union of mind, body and soul.

Their descent back to Earth was languorous and cooling as their bodies powered down, their minds reeling from the beauty that they had experienced together. He turned into the back of the couch, shifting so that he was beneath her, holding her tightly in his arms, truly amazed.

She remarked shakily, her eyes closed as she smoothed his chest, "So much for getting you in my bed… God, I love how great it is with you. We've been together barely a week and it just feels so right, so good."

She turned over in his embrace to look down at him, noticing the tears brimming in his eyes, and she continued, "I've said it before and I'll say it again – I wish we'd done this years ago. All that lost time, and to think what we could have been doing…"

He grinned, remarking in amusement, "Having sex?"

She retorted as she rested her head on his chest, "Amongst other things, Doc."

They sighed happily, and as he played with her hair, he asked suddenly, "Have you ever thought of growing your hair out?"

She met his gaze and said, smiling ruefully as she fingered a strand of her hair, "I don't have to tie it up on missions…"

She smiled affectionately at him, kissing his nose, and continued, "_… but_, seeing as it's you, it'll be your birthday present."

She kissed the sensitive spot on his neck as he whispered, closing his eyes, "That's going to be my best birthday present… uh, one of my best…"

--------------------

Unable to sleep after a couple more love-making sessions, they lay in each other's arms in her bed, talking quietly. He smiled against her neck and said,

"Sam… there's something that I've been wanting to give you this past week but I wasn't sure if it would be too soon..."

She gasped in shock, apprehensive of what she thought was coming, he smiled discreetly as he sat up, reaching into his overnight bag. He returned, sitting on the edge of the bed as he said, looking down at his closed fist, looking nervous,

"It would be an honour if you accepted this… but if you don't, I'll understand."

Choked up with emotion, she couldn't speak, her eyes brimming with tears, and he met her gaze, reaching over to caress her jaw and he smiled, opening his hand to reveal a very familiar looking necklace. She clamped her hand over her mouth, and then said, still shocked,

"Daniel… I…"

He smiled briefly, saying, "Oh, I knew what you thought… It wouldn't have been my quickest engagement, although technically I didn't get engaged to Sha're… or if I did, I didn't know about it…"

She smiled through her oncoming tears, and he said, holding the chain up, the charm catching the light, "This St Christopher belonged to my Mom. When I saw the other you with it, it got me thinking that that other Daniel wasn't afraid to show you, or anyone else for that matter how he felt about you… I've got a fair idea at least of what he must have felt when he gave it to the other you."

He paused, and then continued, gazing at her, his love for her reflecting in his eyes, "I love you, Samantha. I always have and I always will… and I want you to have this. If it's too early, just say so… but it's yours anyway, just like my heart is."

She gasped, tears running down her cheeks as she said, "Daniel… I can't take it from you – I hurt you. I don't deserve something as precious as that. You should give it to someone more deserving of your heart."

He smiled slightly as he held her jaw in his hand, remarking softly, "I don't know about deserving, but there's only one woman for me. You don't give yourself nearly enough credit. There's never going to be anyone else for me."

More tears ran down her cheeks as he held her in his arms, tears in his own eyes as he kissed her. She said, sniffing, "God, Daniel… I love you, and I know that I'll never love anyone else… but I don't deserve the necklace."

He kissed her neck and her shoulder, whispering, "I can't think of anyone more deserving of it, Sam. It's yours."

He loosened his hold on her as they both looked down at the St Christopher between them. He smiled slightly as he slipped it around her neck, fastening the clasp without looking, and he kissed her, whispering,

"I love you."

He kissed her tears away, and she said, overcome with emotion as she held the charm in her palm, "Daniel… I don't know what to say… thank you, it's an honour."

"The honour's all mine. Nick gave it to me before he left and I always said that I'd give it to someone special one day… I'm glad that that someone is you."

They kissed and lay together, his arm around her waist as he smoothed her bare stomach. He kissed her shoulder and then said quietly, shocking her for the second time that night,

"Move in with me."

She turned over in surprise to face him in the dim light, asking, "Are you sure?"

He kissed her forehead and replied softly, "Of course I am. It's ok… I can wait for your answer."

She pressed her lips together as more tears ran down her cheeks, remembering that Jack had never broached this subject, and yet here Daniel was, asking her after almost a week of being together. He held her tighter, kissing her gently before closing his eyes with a little sigh.

She smiled against his toned chest, knowing that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, and after a long pause, she said, "Yes."

Confused, he opened his eyes and said, "Sam?"

Still smiling, she said, "Yes."

He looked around her briefly and then it hit him. His face lit up with hope as he said, his voice rising an octave, "Sam?"

"Yes."

"Oh God."

He kissed her, excited at the prospect of her moving in with him, and he said as she laughed, he laughing too, "You don't know how happy that makes me!"

She returned his kisses, smoothing his backside and she remarked, "Oh, I've got a fair idea."


	41. The Triumvirate

Back at work, Teal'c, and a depressed Cam hung out with Reynolds, the commander of the Odyssey in this Universe, the three men walking through the corridors during a break period, watching their colleagues mill around them. After a few minutes, they noticed, much to their amusement, Daniel striding down the corridor towards them, grinning from ear to ear and oblivious to the rest of the world.

The three men paused and watched him walk past them without so much as a glance in their direction, and Reynolds remarked with a smile as they resumed walking, "Ah, now that's the face of someone who's been laid recently."

As Cam dug his hands in his pocket, thinking wistfully of Vala, Teal'c said, "I presume _laid_ is a colloquial expression."

Reynolds stared at him in disbelief, noting the raised eyebrow, and he remarked to an amused Cam, "Just what have you guys been teaching him on SG-1?!"

Cam rolled his eyes, glaring at the head of SG-3 briefly in what he hoped was a threatening and disbelieving manner, and he said to an intrigued Teal'c, "It's just slang for doing the wild thing."

As Reynolds chuckled, Teal'c's eyebrow shot up and he said, "I see."

Reynolds patted him on the back and said, "You're almost there with our vernacular, Teal'c… although we have trouble with it sometimes."

"Indeed."

Cam remarked with a smile, "Man of few words."

Reynolds retorted in amusement, "Like that needed saying…"


	42. The Clone, and the Sleepover

Later that night, Daniel lay on his couch, home alone as he and Sam had decided to start moving her stuff to his house later that week. A blanket draped over his boxer-clad self, he closed his eyes as he thought of the things that she had done to him over the course of the weekend he had spent over at hers. Despite being alone, a blush rose to his cheeks and he shifted slightly as he imagined her hands caressing him, her mouth doing insufferable things to his neck and the rest of his body; her fingers weaving through his hair.

Just then, he heard a key in the lock and his eyes flew open, startled as he looked over the back of the couch to see none other than mini-Jack smirking at him as he shrugged his jacket off. Daniel said, trying to keep the panic out of his voice,

"Jack."

Mini-Jack said as he entered the room, "Daniel… no Carter?"

Daniel shook his head, replying, "Sam's at her house."

"Row?"

"Nope… just an experiment."

"You geeks. So…"

Daniel, embarrassed, shut his eyes briefly before leaping up and sprinting out of the room and upstairs to change his boxers and take a breather. Mini-Jack smiled knowingly and went about making coffee, remarking to himself,

'_No wonder they're spending the night apart – Carter must be in pain. The guy's been holding out since before he went all glowy on us.'_

--------------------

Daniel returned, with different boxers much to mini-Jack's amusement, the Archaeologist resuming his seat, a blanket draped over his lower half as he sipped his coffee, the younger man perched on an armchair and looking at his friend with an interesting expression on his face.

Mini-Jack remarked after a long moment, "So… you guys had fun?"

Daniel promptly blushed, ducking his head briefly as he said, "Yes… Sam agreed to move in with me."

Mini-Jack raised his eyebrows slowly, and said, "That's a surprise… it is pretty quick."

Daniel shrugged and said, "It feels right… and besides we've known each for about twelve years now."

Mini-Jack sighed and said quietly, "I'm happy for you – I really am, but I can't help thinking that I'm going to lose you. We're not going to hang out like we used to."

Daniel smiled at him, bemused, and remarked softly, "Jack, you really should get a life. I'm twenty-two years older than you."

"Ah, come on Dannyboy, you know I'm really ten years older than you… I just have a better surgeon."

"Jaaack!"

Mini-Jack sighed and remarked, "Well, it doesn't matter… I can't hold down a steady relationship anyway… Did I ever mention that one-night stands stink?"

"Well, I wouldn't know since I can barely remember having one, but you did bring up the topic before… several times."

Mini-Jack smirked briefly, replying, "Well, they do."

Daniel smiled and said suddenly, "I can get you a girlfriend."

Mini-Jack remarked wearily, "Pray, tell me, who did you bribe?"

Daniel rolled his eyes, still smiling as he said, "I didn't bribe anyone… I think it might work. She recently dumped her boyfriend to see if she could get anywhere with you."

Mini-Jack, surprised, asked, "Who is she?"

Smiling into his coffee, Daniel replied, "Vala."

Mini-Jack spluttered, putting his coffee down on the table as he coughed, much to his friend's amusement, and he said hoarsely, "Vala?"

"Yep."

Mini-Jack asked, disbelieving, "And she dumped Mitchell?"

"Oh yes."

Mini-Jack, overcome, slid onto the seat of the armchair, and then said, trying to compose himself, "Ok… so it didn't work out for them…"

Daniel rolled his eyes in bemusement, remarking, "Jack, I know how you feel about her."

Mini-Jack sighed, and Daniel continued with a shrug, "I think you'd be good for each other… you're both into shocking people…"

"Hey!"

Daniel leaned forward to pat the younger man's knee as he said, "I'll sort out a date for you guys – I think she'll love to get to know you better."

--------------------

Later that night, after mini-Jack had insisted on staying the night, Daniel lay in the dark, unable to sleep as he thought of Sam and how he missed having her in his arms. He tried holding his pillow but it was a poor substitute… He hesitated as he reached for the phone, not sure if she was sleeping already, when some indefinable instinct pushed him onwards, and he picked it up, dialling her number.

"Hey Sam."

Sounding very much awake, Sam replied, "Daniel! Hi… God, I miss you."

"Me too… I wish you were here."

"We agreed to try to spend tonight apart."

He sighed and asked, "How about if I pick you up? Or do you want me to stay over at yours? I've got mini-Jack here."

She laughed and replied, "Well… Jack's going to make fun of you if you come here, and he'll make fun of us both if I go to yours… but the little guy's going to be lonely… Ok, you can pick me up."

He smiled and said, getting out of bed, "Great – see you in fifteen!"

He quickly disconnected, throwing clothes on as mini-Jack appeared, remarking, "Dannyboy, you have work tomorrow…"

Daniel, looking cheerful at the prospect of having Sam in his arms, replied as he quickly pulled a sweater on, "And we'll be fine, _Mom_."

--------------------

After picking an equally cheerful Sam from her house, Daniel remarked as they changed in his room, "It's strange that I've slept alone for so long but after sleeping with you a few times in the space of a week, I can't sleep without you."

Sam smiled and replied as she hooked an arm around his neck and kissed him softly, "Maybe it says something."

He tenderly brushed her lips with his own as he asked in a whisper, his eyes sparkling as his arms came around her, "Like what?"

"Like we'll be sleeping together for the rest of our lives."

They kissed again, and he grinned, remarking happily, "I'd like that."

"Me too, Daniel... I love you."

"God, and I love you too."

They stroked each other's jaws, overwhelmingly happy, before lying down together. Holding her with one arm, he reached over to switch the bedside light off, and then he kissed her gently, whispering as he ran his fingers through her hair,

"Goodnight, Samantha."

She turned over in his hold to kiss him, instinctively knowing where to aim for in the dark, and she whispered back as she slid a hand under his t-shirt to smooth his stomach, "Goodnight Daniel."


	43. The Clone and the Alien

_This chapter, eventually, contains Spider-pig related spoilers for the Simpsons Movie, so if you haven't seen it and don't want spoilers, turn away or close your eyes and hum a tune loudly when you get there._

_--------------------_

After Daniel's shift at the mountain the next day, as a secretly nervous mini-Jack waited in the lounge, picking lint from his shirt, the Archaeologist came home with an equally nervous Vala, who had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the entire drive from the mountain. Vala paused in the doorway from the hall on seeing the clone, and said with a nervous grin and a little wave,

"Hello Jack. Nice to see you again."

As an inconspicuously amused Daniel managed to get past Vala to go into the kitchen, mini-Jack silently cursing him for perceived abandonment, the younger man replied, feigning casualness, his hands in the pockets of his jeans, "Hey Vala, likewise… So…"

Mini-Jack glanced at his feet, nervous and Vala picked up the thread saying a little too brightly, still stood in the doorway, "Nice weather we're having."

Mini-Jack looked back at her bemused and she shrugged, remarking, "Well, it is… It isn't raining although I like rain especially after watching that delightful Singing in the Rain with Samantha."

Mini-Jack replied, scratching the back of his neck, "I've never seen it."

Vala said, taking a few steps into the room and now holding the back of the couch, "Oh but you must… Muscles told me that it was an iconic film marking the transition from silent movies to, um, _talkies._"

Mini-Jack frowned slightly and asked, "_Muscles_? Is that a new guy on the block that Daniel hasn't told me about yet?"

Daniel briefly poked his head out of the kitchen and replied with an impish grin, "Nope, that's Vala's name for Teal'c."

"Ah…"

Mini-Jack returned his gaze back to Vala who smiled and said, "Well, he does have a lot of muscles… far more than any of those delightful examples of manhood at the SGC."

He, smiling slightly, remarked, "It's a good name… gee, I wish I'd thought of that although it would've made me sound gay."

Momentarily confused, she said, "Oh right… as in homosexual… My, your 'Earth' language certainly is confusing."

"Oh, we get confused by it all the time… so…"

She, now feeling a lot bolder, replied, amused, "I think this is the part, my dear clone, where you offer to take me out for a date unless you'd rather not get to know me."

He, surprised by her forthrightness, said, his smile returning as he straightened up, "Yep, sorry… got a little sidetracked there, didn't we? Ok… so you want to go to O'Malley's? They have Pool tables and I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that you're a good shot."

She smiled, her face glowing with anticipation as she nodded and said, "I'd like that very much… I went with the team there before but Daniel wouldn't let me play Pool…"

She added in a stage whisper, "I think he was jealous of my superior abilities."

Daniel poked his head out again and remarked with a frown, much to mini-Jack's amusement, "Vala, you were betting that you could hit the owner's toupee off with a ball… and after the trouble we had there a long, long time ago, it wouldn't have been wise."

Vala, intrigued, asked, "Trouble?"

Mini-Jack, amused beyond measure looked at a now flustered Archaeologist, his arms folded across his chest as he said with a brief raise of his eyebrows, "Yes Daniel, do inform us all of what trouble we had."

Daniel rolled his eyes and said to Vala, "That's a story for another day… you guys need to get going and Sam should be by in a couple of minutes."

Mini-Jack and Vala exchanged a knowing smirk and then looked at a now embarrassed Archaeologist, the clone saying, "Ah, right, we better get going then – don't wanna be catching you guys going at it."

Vala added, cheekily, "Yes… or admiring the way you wear your shirt out of your trousers after a _making out_ session."

Mini-Jack and Vala hi-fived in triumph as Daniel reddened, the clone liking the alien even more, and Daniel said, shooing them out, "Right, that's it, out… go have a life."

As the clone and the alien left after much more taunting at Daniel's expense, the Archaeologist sighed in relief and then went about fixing himself some juice in the kitchen, a smile on his face. As he sipped his juice, he leaned against the worktop behind him and looked around the kitchen, thinking how different things would be when Sam moved in.

A few minutes later, he heard a key in the front door and hoped that it was the other person he had given a key to; as opposed to his best friend/sometime house mate/general surrogate mother. He was a rewarded with Sam's voice calling,

"Daniel?"

Relieved and happy beyond measure, he emerged from the kitchen and met her in the lounge. They kissed, and she asked, "Have mini-Jack and Vala gone yet?"

He replied as he held her in his arms, "Yep, after a lot of collaborative taunting… those guys are made for each other… I just hope Mitchell doesn't kill me."

She rested her head on his shoulder, drinking in his presence, her arms around his waist as she replied, "Relax Daniel, he'll be fine…eventually. If he's going to hit anyone, it's mini-Jack and I'm sure our little guy would give him a run for his money."

"Wow, we're great friends."

He gently kissed her forehead and asked, "Do you want a drink?"

Tightening her hold on him, she remarked, smiling as she met his gaze, "I'll have the same thing that you just had – it tastes nice."

They kissed one more time and he replied, smiling softly, "Grape juice."

--------------------

A little while later, they lay together in each other's arms on the couch, his fingers gently running beneath the hem of her top, and he asked, "So… how was work?"

She replied, her hand on his chest, "Oh… I would say _same old, same old _but it never is in our jobs."

He chuckled softly, remarking, "We're in the wrong jobs for that."

"Well, anyway, I got a good look at the device SG-3 brought back from 293... I managed to interface it with a ZPM and it appears to be a little telepathically-based projector system."

Surprised, he asked, "_Telepathically-based_?"

Now looking down at him, she replied with a grin that gradually faded, "Oh yeah… it projects a visual representation of anything that a user focuses on. It's similar to the Tok'ra device Dad used on that super soldier, although it's a hybrid of Goa'uld and Asgard in design.'

"The problem is that we don't know much about the civilisation it was from as there weren't any people on 293. Balinsky's team think that it might have been a former Goa'uld world that was then protected by the Asgard, but they hadn't found the usual hammer device… the place looked as though it had been stripped thoroughly."

He sighed and said with a frown, "It might be possible that the people were moved…"

"All the atmospheric data was within acceptable ranges… perhaps… Oh wait, they could have been under impending attack but then the Asgard were very picky with regard to out-and-out helping people below a certain technological threshold."

He stroked her back as he stared at the ceiling in thought, saying, "We'll never know."

"That's true. It's interesting to note that that device was the only thing on that planet… or rather that part of the planet seeing as the rest was heavy rainforest with no detectable signs of life."

"What about underground?"

"The Odyssey was en route from SG-2's reconnaissance mission and did a scan. They found nothing."

He asked, "Could the device be a trap? It could have been left there in the knowledge that we would come across it."

She shook her head and said, her head resting on his chest, "Bill and I performed some exceedingly thorough tests on it… it's emitting a low, harmless level of tachyon radiation as is common with Asgard technology but that's it."

They sighed quietly, deep in thought, and he remarked, glancing at her, "We really are geeks."

She raised herself above him again and retorted with a grin, "But happy geeks."

"Ah, you bet. _Geeks and proud_. God, it's been one hell of a twelve years, hasn't it? We've gone from being the new guy to being the Fifth race, and seen and done so much. One day, people are going to learn of the sacrifices we made, the lives lost and the heroic battles against extinction…"

With a nostalgic albeit wistful expression as she thought back to the years before, she said, smoothing his chest, "One day… everyone's going to find out the number of times they came so close to being wiped off the face of the planet while they were sleeping."

He gently kissed her and they silently mused over what had been, soothed somewhat by their close proximity and the sounds of their heartbeats and breathing in the surrounding silence.

--------------------

Some time later, still lying in each other's arms, they laughed as they watched the Simpsons Movie on DVD. He remarked, bemused,

"I stopped watching it when I moved out of Jack's."

Snickering, she said, "Oh, Jack's a big Simpsons fan… he mentioned forgetting to record it when we were in the Antarctic… oh."

Her smile faded as she became not only compounded by guilt for mentioning an ex-boyfriend but also by remembering Daniel's year away. She closed her eyes and he, sensing the former, whispered as he kissed her forehead,

"Sam, it's ok… I mention Jack all the time. The man's changed us all."

She looked down at him in the half-light and said, sadness reflected in her eyes, "Daniel, it's not that… well, not totally… We were in the Antarctic the year you were gone. I missed you."

After pausing the DVD, he stroked her cheek and replied softly, her sadness affecting him, "I'm here now."

She hugged him tightly, tears in her eyes as she said, "Don't you ever die on me again, Daniel… I mean it, I will find you and bring you home."

Hugging her back from his reclining position, his eyes moist too, he kissed her hair and replied, "I keep coming home for you anyway, Sam."

Surprised, she asked, gazing down at him, "Me?"

His gaze shifted away from her as he replied quietly, "Yes."

"What are you talking about…? Oh."

Realisation hit her as he moved his gaze back to hers, and she asked, hurt, "You wouldn't have come home if I hadn't gone into the tent?"

He wasn't going to answer her but she persisted, her voice wavering with emotion as she said, "Daniel, tell me."

With a sigh, he looked her in the eyes and said, his love for her shining in his eyes, "I wasn't convinced but when I saw you, I had this feeling that there was something between us… something… I don't know…"

Gasping, she said hoarsely, "Oh God, that question."

He nodded and said, "That's when I first became aware of how I felt about you… I always felt that way but I suppressed it. Without my memories, there was nothing to hide it under."

Tears ran down her cheeks as she said, "You could have told me, Daniel."

He ran his fingers through her hair as he gazed up at her and he said gently, "Sam… I was still trying to find my feet and then Pete happened. You deserved some happiness for once. I was happy for you."

She said heatedly, "God Daniel, I only went out with Pete because I thought you didn't feel the same way!"

She closed her eyes and said quietly as he stroked her jaw, "I'm sorry…"

He gently stretched up to kiss her, replying, "Don't be… we've been through a lot over the years. There's no point in regretting what might have been – believe me, I've done that a lot – all we can do is look to the future."

She returned his kiss and said, gazing at him with a little smile as he reached up to dry her tears, "I think I might like the future."

He smiled up at her, replying, "Me too especially waking up with you almost every morning from this week."

They kissed once again and she rested her head on his chest again with a contented smile as he kissed her forehead. With a contented smile of his own, he resumed the film, and they returned to laughing once again.

During one particular scene, she remarked, wiping away tears of laughter, "Oh my… you know, before this film came out, the producers said that they were putting out fake trailers so the plot remained a secret as long as possible… When I saw the Spider-pig scene in a trailer, I just knew that it was going to be in the movie – it's so totally Homer."

He chuckled and remarked, "I could see Jack doing that in the name of interior decorating."

They laughed, right before they both heard the sound of a key in the lock of the front door, and they both sat up and turned to see mini-Jack and Vala, laughing and talking as they entered the lounge. Sam and Daniel exchanged a little smile, the Astrophysicist remarking with a raised eyebrow,

"And what time do you call this? Your father and I have been worried out of our minds!"

Daniel, amused, inconspicuously caressed her waist as mini-Jack retorted, eyebrows raised, "Whoa Carter, I know I said that you had a strong maternal instinct but aren't you taking it a little too far?"

Daniel asked, smiling, "Did you have fun?"

Mini-Jack smiled at Vala who replied, ebullient, "Oh, it was brilliant… amazing even."

Mini-Jack went into the kitchen as Vala seated herself on an armchair, and Sam asked, smiling mischievously as Daniel slipped an arm around her, "So… how did it go?"

Vala replied, flushed, "Oh, great. Jack… uh, this Jack's a delightful young man. We soundly trounced our opponents in three games of Pool… although we did get a few weird looks. Oh, and an elder… stateswoman called me a Cradle-snatcher. Jack wouldn't elaborate so I can only assume that it wasn't something that one would call an angry Jaffa. He told her to, um, procreate with her handbag… I'd be interested to witness the offspring resulting from _that_ union."

Sam and Daniel barely suppressed smiles before looking perturbed at the prospect of Vala being discriminated against because of her age. Mini-Jack entered from the kitchen with mugs of coffee and asked,

"What are you guys talking about?"

Vala replied, looking up at him as he perched on the arm of her chair, "Oh… just what you said to that old woman… come on, tell me what Cradle-snatcher means."

Mini-Jack sighed, remarking quietly, "I knew this was coming…"

He looked across at Daniel, saying, "Come on Dannyboy, don't keep the lady waiting."

As an amused Sam smirked into her coffee, Daniel raised his eyebrows and retorted, "She's _your_ girlfriend."

"Ah, but she's _your_ team-mate."

Vala rolled her eyes and said, "Hello, _she_ is right here!"

The men looked suitably chastised at talking about her in the third person in her presence, and Sam glanced at Daniel, saying, "You _are _the most qualified person here, seeing as you're a Philologist."

Daniel rolled his eyes, smiling nonetheless as mini-Jack remarked with a clap, "_Thank you_ Carter! Now come on Daniel."

Daniel sighed as he gazed into his mug, narrowing his eyes slightly, and then he said, "Well, it's a derogatory term with regard to an older woman and a younger man entering a relationship together. It's a testament to the paternalistic culture we live in where, if the situations were reversed, everyone would be admiring the guy in question."

Vala looked down at her lap, thoughtful as the others looked at her, concerned, and she said, bobbing her head slightly, "Well, at least it doesn't involve stealing infants or nursery equipment as I had initially surmised."

Her friends all smiled briefly, and as mini-Jack gently touched her hair, Daniel said with raised eyebrows, "Well, no-one knows the truth that Jack is actually older than you… what they don't know, won't hurt them… and let's face it, as long as you guys are happy, no-one else's opinions should matter."


	44. The Boyzone Song

_Lyrics featured are 'I Love the Way you Love Me' by Boyzone… Ok, if you're American, it's a John Michael Montgomery song, but you should really hear the Boyzone cover – it's richer. By the way, Boyzone is the band that Ronan Keating used to be in, the guy who sang 'When You Say Nothing at All' on the soundtrack for Notting Hill… Boyzone sang 'Picture of You' on the soundtrack of the first Mr Bean movie._

_I love writing these Author's Notes. lol._

_--------------------_

One afternoon at Sam's house as the Astrophysicist went about packing her things in preparation for the move to Daniel's, said Archaeologist sat on the edge of her bed, the radio playing softly in the background. He said, feeling guilty,

"Saaam, let me help. It feels weird with you doing all the work and me just sitting here."

Laughing as she knelt before a dresser in the process of emptying it, she remarked, "Daniel, I did say that you could hold my coffeemaker hostage… You insisted on sitting with me."

He rolled his eyes, smiling as he retorted, "I would have been lonely."

"There you have it. Come on, it isn't much anyway."

"Saaam."

"Daniel, just relax for once."

He sighed as he leaned his head back with his eyes closed, the fact that he couldn't help her getting to him, and then he froze as the words of a song filtered into his consciousness. He straightened up to look at her and noticed that she too had stopped what she was doing. He turned the radio up a little more and joined her on the floor, the Astrophysicist sitting in between his legs as he held her intimately, the back of her head resting against his shoulder, their eyes closed as the words washed over them.

"_I like the feel of your name of my lips,  
And I like the sound of your sweet gentle kiss,  
The way that your fingers run through my hair,  
And how your scent lingers even when you're not there_

I like the way your eyes dance when you laugh,  
How you enjoy your two hour baths,  
How you convinced me to dance in the rain,  
With everyone watching like we were insane

I love the way you love me,  
Strong and wild, slow and easy,  
Heart and soul, so completely,  
I love the way you love me

And I like the sound of ol' R 'n' B,  
You roll your eyes when I'm slightly off-key,  
And I like the innocent way that you cry,  
At sappy old movies you've seen thousands of times

But I love the way you love me,  
Strong and wild, slow and easy,  
Heart and soul, so completely,  
I love the way you love me

I love the way you love me,  
Strong and wild, slow and easy,  
Heart and soul, so completely,  
I love the way you love me…

And I could list a million things,  
I'd love to like about you,  
But they all come down to one reason,  
I could never live without you

I love the way you love me, oh baby,  
Strong and wild, slow and easy,  
Heart and soul, so completely,  
I love the way you love me…

I love… the way that you love me…"

As the song faded, they exchanged a deep and meaningful look prior to kissing. She turned in his embrace to straddle his lap as they continued, his arms holding her steady as she rose above him. Parting, they smiled at each other, too shy to mention the prospect of a wedding as they each thought of the suitability of the song in conjunction with said matrimonial event. He kissed her softly and whispered,

"It's a nice song. It fits us."

She remarked, bemused, "I don't take two hour baths…"

They kissed again, and he replied, his eyes sparkling with happiness, "The middle eight and chorus really said it all though."

"It sure did."


	45. The Baby Talk

Later that day, after moving most of everything over to his house, Sam and Daniel lay together on her bed, his arm around her as they took a break, talking softly. Closing her eyes as his hand went underneath her top to smooth the bare skin of her stomach, she asked,

"Did you ever think about having children?"

His breathing hitched, his hand stopping its caresses, and she turned over in his embrace, concerned. Noticing his distant look, she asked, touching his jaw,

"Daniel?"

His eyes focussed on her and he gently kissed her, replying quietly, "Sorry… that just brought back some memories…"

Feeling sorry for stumbling across a sensitive topic, she said, "No, I should be sorry… I didn't realise…"

He shook his head and said, "It was a long time ago, Sam…"

He sighed and continued as he played with the hem of her top, his gaze fixed on his task, "Sha're was worried that she hadn't got pregnant and she thought she was cursed… her cousin got married a little while after us and _she_ got pregnant soon afterwards. I told her that these things happened and that she wasn't cursed, but for the year or so that we were together, she never conceived…'

"And then… when she came back to Abydos and I found her pregnant… I began to think that it was me that had a problem."

He shut his eyes to stop tears from falling as he continued, his voice wavering with emotion, "I couldn't give Sha're a child and yet some evil megalomaniacal _bastard_ did."

Sad, and realising that his unusual use of profanity reflected just a small amount of his inner turmoil that he had carried for years, she held him in her arms as he began to cry against her bosom. She ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his brow, not sure what to say to take his pain away.

Stroking her arm, he whispered, embarrassed, "Sorry…"

"Don't be… you need this."

He dried his eyes and whispered as he gazed at her, his eyes alarmingly clear, "Thank you."

She kissed him and said, "I'm honoured that you could share that with me."

His hand reaching under her top once more, he asked, "What about you?"

Her gaze fell as she said, wistful, "Ah, I dreamt about that whole 2.4 kids and a white picket fence… not that it would be entirely practical with our jobs… Pete and I fantasised about having a boy and a girl, and he wanted them to have fair hair like mine."

She smiled ruefully through her oncoming tears, "I guess I didn't have it in me to give him those things… and Jack… Oh, that man. He wouldn't even consider having kids again. I tried to tell him that it wasn't necessarily going to work out like it did with Charlie but he wasn't having any of it. He's been hurt so much that he couldn't find it in him to love again like that. I seriously did consider forgoing my injections without telling him, but what kind of a life would a child borne out of deception have? And now… well now, I'm too old to have children. That ship set sail long ago."

Touched by her pain and sadness, he held her close, whispering, "Oh Sam, don't cry… please don't cry. You're not too old. That other you had children at forty-two. We could give it a shot."

She stroked his jaw and kissed him, saying with a sigh, "I guess it is worth a shot… I could stop having my injections…"

Gazing at her sadly, he smoothed her hip as he said, "I don't want to get your hopes up, Sam… I might not be able to give you children either, but I could get tested out."

They held onto each other, not sure of what the future would bring and whether they would miss out on what they each wanted.


	46. The Double Date

The next evening, at Daniel's house, the two scientists prepared for a team social-cum-double date with the rest of SG-1 and mini-Jack, Cam grudgingly agreeing to attend in order to defend his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend from age discrimination. As the Archaeologist shaved, Sam wrapped her arms around his waist and gazed at their reflection in the mirror.

She said, kissing him on the neck, "I had to sign something waiving the SGC from liability if anything bad happened off-world as a result of not having my injections any more. It doesn't matter too much seeing as we're just helping the Jaffa out now and we're not going through the 'gate much."

He replied, smiling slightly, "They don't want the lawsuit from Ne'tu."

She chuckled, and then said with a sigh, her smile disappearing, "Carolyn did give me the usual talk about having babies after the age of thirty-five though… and especially the lower chances of me being able to conceive in the first place, and then being able to carry a baby to term…"

He gazed down at her, sadness and love in his eyes as he said, "Sam, it's ok. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't… We can always adopt."

She smiled against his shoulder, tears in her eyes, and he asked, "So… how long is it going to take for the hormone to leave your bloodstream?"

"Ooh, about three months, so if you're lucky, I could conceive on your birthday."

He blushed beneath his shaving foam, and she caressed his stomach, asking, "What about you? How did the tests go?"

He closed his eyes briefly, putting the razor down as he gripped the edge of the sink tightly, breathing heavily as he remembered getting the results earlier that day. Worried, she stooped to look at his face, asking,

"Daniel?"

He bit his lip and replied, tears running down his cheeks as he straightened up, "I'm fine – there's nothing wrong with me."

She hugged him, careful to avoid the remaining areas of shaving foam, and she said, smoothing his towelled backside, "That's great, that really is."

She kissed his neck and he said shakily, gazing at her as she tenderly dried his tears, "It also means that it was Sha're who had a problem and that… that… home wrecker fixed her somehow. Oh God…"

She held onto him tightly, whispering, "You couldn't have known that, Daniel."

"I know, but it doesn't hurt any less. She was so young with her whole life ahead of her and he took it from her, from both of us."

She, smiling sadly, ran her fingers through his hair and he whispered, "Sorry… I keep getting all emotional."

"Don't apologise – you said it yourself; we're supposed to be able to do this with each other."

They gazed at each other, and he remarked, laughing briefly, "I'd kiss you but you'd get a face-full of something citrusy."

She chuckled and said as she gazed at him affectionately, noticing that his hands were shaking, "How about if I finish it off for you – I'm not letting my Archaeologist take his life in his own hands."

He smiled and she picked up the razor, carefully shaving the remaining areas of shaving foam as he gazed at her. When she had finished, he rinsed his face, applied aftershave and pulled her into a tight hug before kissing her. He whispered,

"Thank you."

"Oh, you're welcome… and that sort of payment is always welcome."

--------------------

At O'Malley's, Sam and Daniel were the last of their little gathering to arrive, resulting in a few albeit hackneyed jokes from mini-Jack and Vala about what they had been up to. Sam and Daniel exchanged a little glance, and the former said,

"Well, at least neither of us ended up in bed with someone weird after eating some weird cake, and _then_ aging sixty years."

As Vala looked intrigued, mini-Jack dismayed, Cam smirked as he recalled a pertinent mission report, Teal'c too to a lesser extent. The scientists hi-fived in triumph at getting one up on the younger man, and Vala asked, looking at mini-Jack,

"Weird cake? When did this happen?"

Cam, Sam and Daniel looked at Teal'c who replied, "Twelve years previously… O'Neill consumed cake which resulted in his marriage to a local inhabitant. Following an amorous encounter, he was infected with a virus and then aged… _greatly_."

Cam remarked in amusement, clapping him on the shoulder, "You know, that sounds much better than the report."

Vala looked at mini-Jack, surprised and admittedly intrigued further at the prospect of him being wilder than he appeared, the younger man glaring at the smirking Jaffa, remarked in a dangerously low voice, "Thank you Teal'c…"

Teal'c replied, still smirking, "You are welcome, O'Neill the Younger."

The waitress approached, looking warily at Sam and Daniel in particular, and asked, "You guys ready to order?"

They each placed their orders, and Vala asked when the waitress had left, "Ok, is it just me or did that odd woman look absolutely happy to see us?"

Mini-Jack looked mirthfully at Sam and Daniel, who glanced at each other, smiling, the Archaeologist saying, "Ah, well, she knows us…"

Mini-Jack added with a casual raise of his eyebrows, "And our usual preferences for steaks…"

Vala asked as Cam looked confused, "Why did she even suggest steaks even though we were having starter courses?"

Sam replied, amused as she looked from Daniel to mini-Jack, "Well, that's how she knows us."

Mini-Jack whispered in Vala's ear, mindful of their public surroundings, "You know what Atok armbands are, don't you?"

Vala replied, mindful too, "Oh yes… and I did hear from Cameron about what happened so… Oh…"

She looked at mini-Jack, Sam and Daniel in bemusement and realisation and said, "You caused some mischief."

Mini-Jack remarked as everyone else smiled, "Ah, that's putting it lightly. Those two and grump ass went and ordered three steaks each… Only Dannyboy here ordered four, and Carter had some diet soda."

As Cam and Teal'c looked amused, Daniel rolled his eyes and Sam remarked defensively, still smiling, "What, I like the taste! And besides, a girl has to watch her figure."

Daniel gently squeezed her knee, smiling as she briefly met his gaze, her hand resting on his, and mini-Jack continued, "So… it was that waitress who served us… We went and played some Pool, and Carter whupped this guy. Daniel said something and the guy called him a geek. And for the second time in his life, our boy won a fight."

As everyone looked at a squirming Daniel affectionately, Teal'c ruffling his hair, Vala asked, "What was the first time?"

"Oh, that's a story for another day. Anyway, we were banned for ages because of the huge fight, and it took me a lot of wheedling to get us back in… in fact, right after Daniel came back."

Sam, her eyes getting a little moist, squeezed Daniel's hand, the Archaeologist turning his hand over to hold hers just as the food arrived. They sorted out their plates and drinks, and then the others noticed that mini-Jack's attention was focussed on the other side of the restaurant. He then nudged Vala, whispering,

"Hey, it's her again… with her grandkids five tables back."

Daniel asked, glancing at Vala, "Jack?"

Mini-Jack pointed discreetly at an elderly woman on the other side of the restaurant, remarking, "That's the old witch that called Vala a Cradle snatcher… the woman with the white bouffant."

SG-1 readied themselves as the woman turned and noticed mini-Jack. She purposefully approached their table but bottled out on noticing that his friends were all just waiting for her to speak. She neared their table and Daniel asked, looking innocent,

"Can we help you, Ma'am?"

The old woman replied, glaring daggers at Vala, "Oh no dear, just thought I saw some foul-mouthed young man with a disreputable woman far too old to be his girlfriend. Never mind."

SG-1 and mini-Jack exchanged little looks, and Daniel said, "It's an unfortunate sign when people stick their noses into other people's business. It's ageist, not forgetting absolutely prejudiced and bigoted when people object to an older woman courting a younger man. Had the man been older, no-one would have blinked. It's a terrible case of double standards in our society."

Sam squeezed his hand as they awaited the woman's reaction. The old woman looked shocked and then stormed off, grabbing her grandchildren and then storming out, indignant at being insulted. After watching her leave, the rest of the team hi-fived a now red Daniel, Teal'c patting him on the shoulder, and mini-Jack leaning over to ruffle his hair, remarking with a grin,

"Yeah, Space Monkey! Thanks. I think I owe you my second born for that."

Vala grinned, a touch embarrassed as she added, "Me too."

Sam, grinning at Daniel, said as she continued to hold his hand, kissing his cheek, "That was a wonderful thing you did."

Teal'c remarked with a raised eyebrow, "Perhaps it would be advisable to postpone the NC-17 rated scene until later, ColonelCarter… I do not think it wise nor appropriate considering that I am seated on the other side of DanielJackson and can see everything."

Cam, Vala and mini-Jack all looked surprised and cheered, the southern Colonel remarking as he looked at a reddening Sam and Daniel, "Oh ho, so is _that _what you're doing, Sam?! Leave the poor guy alone otherwise he's not going to be able to walk properly."

Mini-Jack added, glancing at Vala, "And his shirt's not tucked in… So, no, Carter, for the welfare of our overwhelming coolness, keep your hands to yourself until you get back to the love shack."

Sam rolled her eyes and lifted hers and Daniel's hands to the table, saying, "Hands…"

"Ah, you could have switched."


	47. The Massage

A couple of weeks later, Sam lay on their bed one night, at what was now _their _house as opposed to _his_ house, waiting for Daniel to come home from a late shift at the mountain. She clutched the St Christopher that hung from her neck as she read a book, glancing occasionally at the bedside clock with a worried expression.

Just as she was about to reach for her mobile, she heard the distant sound of the front door opening and closing, and she smiled, knowing exactly who it was especially since mini-Jack, after transferring to Colorado Springs, had managed to get the relevant clearance to allow Vala to live with him.

She straightened up as she heard footfalls on the stairs and he came into the room, looking highly-strung and drawn as he briefly greeted her. Worried, she watched him silently take his clothes off, his entire body looking tense as he left the room to shower. Clutching a pillow to her chest, she sensed that he needed some time alone and she closed her eyes as she heard the sound of the shower switching on, and then his groans as the water hit him.

She sighed, knowing that he was upset about something or had been overworked yet again, and she debated with herself what to do. Still clutching the pillow, she watched him return, a towel around his waist as he looked for a pair of boxers. When he eventually came to bed, he sat on the edge, his back to her and his head in his hands.

Smiling wistfully at the irony of one of the strongest men she knew who always stuck to his principles, having the inability to say 'no' to anything directly related to his passions, she knelt behind him and gently massaged his shoulders. He instantly rolled his head back and exhaled, his eyes closed, and she whispered,

"Daniel, what's wrong?"

He didn't answer, finding solace in the feeling of tension leaving his body under her touch. She gazed at him, concerned as her hands moved down his back. She wordlessly guided him into lying on his stomach and she sat on his backside, careful to distribute her weight to her knees on either side of him. He let out a moan of relief as she worked on the tension knots in his muscles, his body eventually relaxing.

Noticing that he had dozed off, she chuckled softly as she carefully moved him so that he lay on his side of the bed and she switched off the bedside light, her arm draped over his lower back as she relegated her questions to the morning. She sighed mellifluously and gently kissed his shoulder, whispering,

"'night Daniel."

As she lay awake, unable to sleep and sick with worry over his behaviour earlier, he stirred and said, a touch groggy, "Sam?"

She answered, unsure as to whether he was really awake, "Hmm?"

He turned over in her embrace and pulled her into his arms, kissing her gently, and he said, "Thank you, Sam. I'm sorry for ignoring you earlier… if I was you, I would have kicked my ass long ago."

She returned his kiss in the dark, remarking fondly as she ran her fingers through his hair, "Well, I would if there wasn't other things that I wanted to do with it."

He ran a hand over her hip and said regretfully, "There really wasn't an excuse for it… I'm sorry."

Running her fingers down his jaw, neck and shoulder, she asked, sounding worried, "What's wrong?"

Holding her close to him, his eyes closed as he slowly ran his fingers through her hair, he replied, "Half of my Linguists have that odd 'flu that SG-14 brought back which affects all type A's… Anyway, the other half… Ancient isn't their strong point so I had to do a series of assists all night. Doctor Keller helped out between full frontal assaults on her own workload. God, I'm sorry."

She smiled against his neck, kissing it gently as she said, "You can't apologise for being your usual selfless self… but you really do need to learn how to say 'no'. Even seemingly immortal Archaeologists need their rest… no matter how cute they are."

He chuckled, embarrassed, and they held onto each other, drawing comfort from each other after spending the best part of a day apart. Suddenly, he said,

"Sam?"

"Hmm?"

His hand gently swept down her back as he said with a sigh, "I heard something today… about Atlantis. They're thinking of replacing Liz with a US Air Force officer."

She froze in surprise and asked, "How? How can they have a United States Air Force officer in charge of what's supposed to be an _international_ not forgetting a _civilian _expedition?"

He caressed her waist as he said with a little shrug, "The Wraith situation's heating up and now that they're calling it a 'war' officially, it questions Liz's position there as leader regardless of her own capabilities."

She didn't reply for a few moments, and then she said, sounding sad, "I guess this must be happening in that other Universe… the other me mentioned that she'd been promoted after a three month stint covering for Sheppard. Our Sheppard was injured for three months here too and Lorne replaced him for that time, with Captain Hailey going over to cover him."

"Maybe that other you is going to Atlantis."

"What about her family?"

He shrugged again and kissed her neck, replying, "That other me is not too different from this 'me', and I'm sure that we'd both actively help your career in whatever way that we can."

She kissed him, whispering her thanks, and then asked, "Who do you reckon they'll send? I didn't get promoted here… possibly because of my ties with the head of Homeworld Security…"

He said with a sad sigh, "I'll bet it's Jack… he knows the lie of the land around there and he managed the SGC for a year. If that's the case, I'm going to miss him."

"Me too."

He sighed again and said, kissing her, "Come on Sam, let's stop speculating… _que sera sera… whatever will be, will be._"


	48. The Dwindling

A few weeks later, Sam lay in bed one night, Daniel sound asleep at her side, and she silently wept. His interest in her had dwindled gradually over the past weeks, and she worried about whether he didn't love her any more as he grew more and more cold towards her. She had hoped that he would have been different from the other men that she had been with, different in that he wouldn't bruise the heart she had so willingly trusted him with.

Increasingly upset, she carefully got up so as not to wake him and she tiptoed downstairs, barefoot and curled up on the sofa to sob her heart out, feeling utterly unloved and barely two inches tall.

He slowly came downstairs, having woken up shortly after she had gone, and he silently watched her in what appeared to be unbearable pain. Tears in his eyes at seeing her like that, his chest beginning to feel heavy, he sat down next to her and pulled her strongly into his arms, kissing the top of her head as he held her close.

She sniffed and violently pushed him away from her, saying angrily, "Get the hell away from me."

He looked back at her, hurt as she curled up on the other end of the couch from him, her head hidden. He said, gently,

"Sam? What's wrong?"

She remarked bitterly through her tears, "I don't know whether you'd consider it as wrong seeing as it's you who's caused it."

Shocked, he exclaimed snippily, "Me?!"

She glared at him, her eyes red as tears kept on flowing, and shot back, her voice wavering with emotion, "Yes, you! You know, if you didn't love me any more, why didn't you just say so? I… I love you, I really do and for once, I was hoping that the guy I loved wouldn't throw my heart back in my face."

Horrified, he closed his eyes as more tears ran down his own cheeks and he said, his heart cracking, "Sam, no, that's not true. I love you. Oh God, I love you so much. I've never loved anyone nearly as much as I love you, ok?"

He clenched his fists as she stared at him, surprised and bewildered, and he finally realised why she was so upset. He mentally cursed himself for being such an idiot and he said, looking down at his lap with a sigh,

"I'm sorry, Sam… I've been an idiot, a twit… a bastard even, and you are well within your rights as both my friend and my girlfriend to kick my ass from here to Russia and back."

Worried even further, she stared at him and she asked, her voice faltering but she didn't come any closer, "What is it?"

He met her gaze and said, "I can't tell you Sam. I really can't. One day, I promise that I'll tell you but not now… However, it's no excuse for treating you like that. I've been so selfish and took you for granted. I'm sorry… and if it makes you feel better, you can zat me."

She asked, scared, "Cancer?"

He shook his head and said with a sincere expression, "Nothing bad, but you have to promise me not to ask me about it until I can tell you."

She nodded and then asked, feeling insecure, "You do love me, don't you?"

He replied, meaning every word, "More than life itself and I'm not just being romantic. I would quite happily give my life for you, Sam… I'd do anything for you. Can you ever forgive me?"

He sat there, feeling lower than dirt, and she finally smiled. She took him by surprise by planting herself in his lap and kissing him softly. His arms came around her to stop her from falling off despite her arms around his neck, and she said, finally looking happy,

"You're forgiven, but if you put me through something like this again, I will kick your ass, repeatedly. There might not be another man for me but that doesn't mean that you can get away with treating me like I'm worthless."

"Oh God, you are far from worthless, and I'm so sorry… I really am."

Smiling as she caressed his jaw, she whispered before kissing him again, "I know."


	49. The Birthday Morning

Sam woke up one morning, alone and she stretched, glancing at the bedside calendar. What she saw surprised her and she remarked to herself with a wistful sigh, running her fingers through her hair,

"God… how did not know my birthday was coming?!"

She was all set to get out of bed when the door moved slowly, a certain Archaeologist peeking in to see if she was awake, and then opening the door wider as he entered the room, fully dressed and carrying a laden breakfast tray. He carefully placed the tray in her lap and whispered with a little smile before kissing her,

"Happy birthday, Samantha."

She smiled as he sat next to her, his back resting against the headboard like hers, and she leant her head on his shoulder as they both ate Croissants, and she remarked wistfully, "I can't believe I'm forty-four already…"

He turned his head slightly to kiss her forehead, replying with a loving smile, "No matter how old you are, you'll always be hot."

She chuckled and they kissed. Exchanging a little look with him, she raised her eyebrows briefly before quickly placing the tray on the nightstand, their lips coming together in a surge of intense, all-consuming hunger for each other. Just as she began to unbutton his shirt, the sound of the ringing phone interrupted them, and they groaned in frustration. She asked,

"Who could that be?"

He retorted with a pout, smiling nonetheless, "Well, Samantha, it is your birthday. I never seem to get any nice calls these days."

She rolled her eyes and answered the phone as his fingers slowly trailed up her leg. Clamping her other hand down on that rogue hand so that she could string sentences together at the very least, she said into the phone,

"Hello?"

"Hi Sam."

Surprised, Sam asked, "Cassie?"

"Oh yeah. Totally sorry for not calling for ages but you know. Anyway, just wanted to wish you Happy Birthday. Teal'c told me that you and Daniel together – congratulations with that."

Sam, concerned, said, "Cassie…"

"No, really, congratulations."

"Cassie, I want you to promise me that you'll ring more often. I've been worried about you."

"Look Sam, I'm not a kid any more, ok?"

"You'll always be that little girl we brought back from Hanka all those years ago. I've missed you."

Cassie sighed and said, changing the subject, "What are you doing today?"

Closing her eyes briefly, Sam replied, "Well, I'm off to work in three hours, but Daniel made me breakfast in bed."

"Oh-ho! Ok, I'd better leave you to it then… you've got some important things to do."

"Cassie?!"

"Seriously, I've got to go… I'll see you around. Bye."

"Bye Cassie… Don't be a stranger."

"Yeah, sure."

Sam sighed as she disconnected and Daniel remarked, concerned, "That didn't sound too good."

She gazed at him sadly, replying, "Teal'c told her that we were together… and I'm worried about her. What if she's back on the drugs again? What if she's having trouble?"

He caressed her jaw and replied tenderly, "She's a Frasier, Sam… and besides, especially after last time, I'm sure the girl's learnt her lesson."

"Well, at least she's talking to me."

"Yeah."

They gazed at each other and she remarked, smiling again, "Now, where were we?"

They kissed once more but he pulled back early. Concerned, she asked, "Daniel? You know that thing that I can't ask you about? Surely you can make an exception for the celibacy on my birthday? It's been so long and I'm not sure if I can make it through the day without poor Simmons having to hide out in a closet again."

He caressed her cheek, glad as always that she was in his life, and remarked, brushing his lips with hers, "I would say that he's in a closet anyway but I happen to know that he has a crush on my girlfriend."

She playfully hit him and retorted, "I wish you hadn't told me that now. It's weird."

"Not as weird as you actually returning my feelings."

They continued kissing eagerly and she unbuttoned his shirt, running her hands beneath it and eagerly anticipating what was to come as his kisses moved to her throat, his hands helping her out of her t-shirt.


	50. The Surprise

Later that morning, during her shift, Sam was locked in her lab as part of a lockdown drill, and she resignedly went about getting her work done, wishing that neither of them had to work today so that they could have spent the day together. She sighed as she compiled test results, emailing them to Bill, and then sat at her desk, her head resting on her folded arms as she groaned in frustration and then proceeded to reluctantly wait for the drill to be over.

A few hours later, when she had been scheduled to go home, she heard a little click in the door and then a knock at the door. An SF poked his head in and said,

"Ma'am, SG-3's lockdown drill's over…"

"Thanks, Airman."

The SF's head disappeared and she got up, stretching her limbs before wandering over to see Daniel. She noticed, much to her confusion, that the corridors of the SGC were sparsely populated which was unusual for that time of day. Sighing, she made her way to Daniel's office and discovered, much to her confusion, that his door was locked. Frowning, she knocked on it and called,

"Daniel?"

Receiving no answer, she used her swipe card and discovered that he wasn't there at all. She closed her eyes briefly and then turned on her heel to go and find Cam.

A full half hour later, after not finding any of her friends, and no answers from the personnel that she did come across, she stormed in the direction of the Commissary, angry that Daniel hadn't told her that he had gone home… along with what seemed to be everyone else.

She found the room dark and muttered an obscenity as she switched the lights on. She nearly fell backwards in surprise when her friends and colleagues leapt up and yelled,

"SURPRISE!!!"

She stared around at the faces of Landry, Cam, Carolyn, mini-Jack, Vala, Teal'c, Nyan, Bill, Jay, Chloe, Coombs, and most of the SG teams, along with Daniel, surrounded by walls festooned with birthday decorations. Gazing around herself, she said, still shocked,

"Wow… ok, I suppose it explains why the base is almost empty. Um, thanks."

She closed her eyes as the shock got to her, and Cam quickly helped her into a seat, saying as he kissed her cheek, "Happy birthday, Sam."

She nodded in thanks, barely able to speak and he smiled at her, glancing at Daniel. Mini-Jack, his arm around Vala, called out,

"Come on Dannyboy, get a move on. We have cake that could be abducted by the Goa'uld if we're not quick enough."

Sam, confused, looked at a now nervous looking Daniel who approached her. He knelt down next to her chair and whispered, "Happy birthday," before pulling her into a hug. Mini-Jack rolled his eyes as Vala grinned, Teal'c smiling slightly, and the clone called,

"Ok folks, we're going by Mitchell, so it's _Jackson_ and then three claps. Got it?"

Everyone exchanged bemused glances, Cam smiling in embarrassment and as Sam and Daniel looked on, the former confused, the party all began to call prior to clapping three times, and then repeating the little routine,

"Jackson!"

Sam looked back at Daniel and asked, "Daniel? What's going on?"

When the noise died down, everyone sensing what was to come, Daniel held her hands in his, gazing down at them as he smoothed the skin with his thumbs, and he said gently, "I'm in love with you Sam. You took my heart a long, long time ago, and I just want you to know that I hope that you'll keep it forever. I guess… what I'm trying to say is…"

He shifted so that he was resting on one knee and he pulled a ring from the pocket of his combat fatigues, and he continued, meeting her gaze as everyone watched with bated breath, "… Samantha Carter, will you do me the honour of being my wife?"

She gasped in shock as she gazed at him, into those seemingly bottomless cerulean pools that she had seen a lot of in the past couple of months, and she smiled, tears running down her cheeks as she remarked, "You didn't have to ask. Yes. Oh God, of course I will."

Their friends erupted into wild cheers and hi-fives as Daniel, his heart doing a series of little flips, slipped the ring on her finger, tears of joy running down her cheeks. She gazed down at her hand, admiring the way that the emerald caught the light and she whispered,

"Is this what you couldn't tell me?"

He nodded and they stood, his arms coming around her as he remarked in a whisper, unable to stop smiling, "I'm glad you said 'yes'."

They kissed softly as their friends cheered and made rude remarks, others calling out their congratulations as the scientists looked forward to the future together.


	51. The Honeymoon, and the Fast Forward

Just under two months later, Sam and Daniel, now on their honeymoon, sat together on the edge of a cliff in the Bahamas, enjoying the balmy night air together, their hands entwined as warm waves crashed against their bare legs. She, her fair hair now shoulder-length, remarked happily,

"Hmm, I think Samantha Jackson has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

He leaned over to kiss her cheek, happy too as he replied, "As long as you're happy… to be honest, I don't mind at all if you kept your name."

She smiled at him reassuringly, saying as she caressed his jaw, "I really do want your name Daniel. Had you been anyone else, I wouldn't take it, but I know that with you, taking your name doesn't mean that I lose anything."

He, smiling too, replied, "It is your choice."

He kissed her on the cheek and remarked with a grin, "Jack's face on seeing the other Jack kiss Vala…"

She laughed and continued for him, "Priceless. God, I can still see his face… _'Are you two together or are you just friends?' _Gee, Jack, they were making out… enough said."

"I guess he was shocked."

"Yeah."

They happily sighed and she smiled as she watched him. She then turned to face him, holding his hands in hers as she gazed down at them. He looked at her, concerned, and she said, fighting the urge to grin,

"Daniel… I've got a surprise for you."

As he wondered what it could be, short of her having a sex-change op, she met his gaze and smiled radiantly, and continued, "You're going to be a Daddy… it looks like we did conceive on your birthday after all."

Staring at her in shock as the news sank in, he suddenly pulled her into a tight hug, laughing and crying at the same time as he said, "Oh God. Oh God, Sam. That's wonderful! That's… oh, I'm already the happiest man in the galaxy but… oh God…"

--------------------

Several years later, Sam, her long fair hair now greying, typed up her autobiography, a sure-fire bestseller along with Jack's, Cam's, Daniel's, Teal'c's and Vala's, now that the Stargate programme had been declassified. A fair-haired girl on her knee, she smiled as she remembered Daniel's laughter all those years ago, the sound echoing across the water as he kissed and hugged her long into the night.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of a pair of very familiar lips tenderly kissing the nape of her neck, and an oh-so familiar voice say, "Well, hello there General Jackson."

She turned, smiling happily as she returned his kiss, the fair-haired girl excitedly calling, "Daddy!" as she clambered over her mother. Sam kissed him again, saying,

"How was your day, Professor Jackson?"

"Oh, pretty bad… but it just improved greatly."

He, his hair greying too, stroked her cheek and then prevented his daughter from falling headfirst over her mother's shoulder in all her frenzy. He picked the laughing girl up, spun her around and rubbed her nose with his, saying,

"Claire! Daddy missed you today."

He glanced around the room and asked the giggling girl, "Where's your sister?"

Claire, still giggling, shook her head and said, "Grace told me not to tell you."

"Oh, is that so?"

Holding his daughter in his arms, he stomped around the room as Sam and Claire laughed, and eventually swooped under a table and picked up another similarly aged fair-haired girl, grinning as he said, "Grace! I found you. Don't scare Daddy like that – he's too old."

Sam, remembering something, said, "Daniel?"

He looked at her, and she continued, smiling more and more, "Mini-Jack called while you were out. He and Vala are getting there with giving you their second-born – they're going to be parents."

He grinned, saying, "That's great news… We could go pick out something for them with Mitchell and Carolyn…"

She replied, happy, "Oh, and those two want us over tonight to help plan their anniversary party."

Grinning at this as well as the other news, he gently rubbed Grace's nose with his as Claire hung onto him in his other arm, and Sam smiled. Her gaze shifted to the two framed pictures on the mantel, and as Daniel followed her gaze, they both silently thanked their alternate selves for pushing them down a path that they may never have taken, and at the same time, changing the lives of their friends too.

--------------------

_Yay, the end! Woo! All reviews, short, medium and long are more than welcome. I really would like to know what you think. Next, we're going back to the original Jackson Junior universe to follow on from Jackson Junior: Nuptial Preludes, with spoilers for Continuum, and Atlantis season four. Yeah!_


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